[3][4] Scaly-throated honeyguides from Southern Somalia to Northeast Tanzania were previously regarded as a separate race (jubaensis).

[4] The scaly-throated honeyguide appears olive with a white or buffy yellow tinge that is more clearly seen on its middle and lower breast.

[3] Its rump is also yellow-green,[4] while its tail displays a black-tipped white outer pattern with short outermost feathers.

[3][4] Scaly-throated honeyguides are found in dense woodland, thickets, forest,[3][4][5] overgrown plantations, and bamboo,[3] usually only identifiable by their high-pitched, trill-like ascending call.

Its main song is a churring trill, a low croak into a loud rising call that lasts three to four seconds.

'[4] Both males and females have also been observed producing a 'kizz-kizz-kizz' sound when chasing other birds, which resembles the calls of the lesser honeyguide (Indicator minor).

[7] The species is territorial, with males maintaining traditional song sites (often a particular tree or bush),[3][4] which can be help for up to eight years or may change more frequently, even during a season.

[3][4][8] Young scaly-throated honeyguides can be fed up to 45 times in eight hours by hosts,[4] and fledging occurs in 27 to 35 days.

[3][10] Its typical diet includes beeswax,[11] honey, insects (bees and their grubs, aphids, ants, flies, termites, beetles, caterpillars), arthropods, and sometimes, seeds and fruits (especially figs).

[3][4] Since wax is a major part of their diet, honeyguides have a specialized digestive system with a prolonged gut transit time and greater levels of lipase and other enzymes.

[3] The scaly-throated honeyguide have been observed guiding humans and honey badgers to bee hives, although this is not particularly common, possibly because of the species' secretive habitat locations.

[4] To locate bee hives, they often watch for guiding greater honeyguides and other activity that may indicate honey harvesting.

[3] Scaly-throated honeyguides may be common in the Ngoye Forest due to the high population of Green Barbets, which it is known to parasitize.