The forest buzzard is very similar to the abundant summer migrant steppe buzzard Buteo buteo vulpinus, the head, the back and upperwings are brown, marked out with rufous edges to the feathers the amount of which varies between individuals.

[4] It as, at least, a partial migrant and seems to be a winter visitor (June–August) in the Drakensberg of Eastern Cape northwards where there are no breeding records.

It has been recorded as preying on small mammals, birds up to the size of a turaco or a francolin, snakes, lizards, frogs, grasshoppers, wasps, beetles and scorpions.

The nest is a large structure of sticks with an interior cup, lined with green leaves and sometimes with beard lichen Usnea spp.

The steppe buzzards is a generalist and breeds over a large area of the eastern Palearctic in a variety of habitats and winters widely in eastern and southern Africa, with a few non-breeding birds remaining in southern Africa over the northern summer.