The rest of the upperparts are mostly blackish, except for the rufous upper tail feathers which has a black subterminal bar.

Juveniles resemble the adults, but have a browner upperparts, creamy rather than white underparts and lack the dark throat.

[3] The red-necked buzzard occurs in a broad band running from Mauritania south to Liberia then eastwards to Ethiopia and Uganda, as well as south along the Gulf of Guinea coast through Gabon to the Democratic Republic of Congo and north-eastern Angola.

It is a generalist hunter and the prey taken consists of a wide variety of small animals including rodents, birds, lizards and snakes, as well as arthropods and especially termites.

The clutch size is normally one or two eggs, which are probably laid in November to January in the northern part of its range and later in the south, where young have been seen in the nest in August.