Medium-sized, compact eagle. Adults are conspicuously two toned when perched: dark flight feathers contrast with paler body. Head and bill small for an eagle. Juveniles quite different, with bold white bars on the back, wings, and pale uppertail. Smaller and paler than the similar Greater Spotted Eagle. Look for the diagnostic double (not single) white "commas" on the wrist of the underwing. Normally found in open woodland or forest edges but can be found around low intensity farmland areas, sometimes perching prominently.