Black-breasted Buzzards are one of Australia's largest and most powerful birds of prey. Their distinctive field marks are the large white patches towards the end of their wings. They are a bird of the eucalypt-lined watercourses of the inland, more common in northern Australia. They spend a long time soaring in circles surveying the scene below and descend to feed on the ground on a variety of prey - reptiles, grasshoppers, birds, smaller mammals like rabbits, perhaps the occasional small wallaby. They also take birds from nests in trees. They prefer live prey and rarely eat carrion.

Their large stick nests are fairly permanent structures, added to and reused year after year presumably by the same birds which are likely to be long-lived and paired for life although that is not actually proven.