It has a brown crown and black eye stripes separated by a broad white supercilium.

The sexes are similar, but young birds are duller and have a buff stripe through the eye.

It can be separated from southern tchagra by its larger size, relatively shorter bill and paler underparts.

Nominate T. t. tchagra of the Western Cape has the darkest underparts and longest bill.

The cup nest is constructed of twigs and stems in a branch fork in a bush or scrub.