Brown Goshawks are medium-sized raptors. They have a brown head, slate-grey to brown upperparts with a red-brown collar across the upper nape of the neck, and finely barred underparts of red-brown with white. The rounded wings are dark brown to grey above and buff to reddish brown below with darker wingtips, and the long rounded tail is grey with dark bars. The long legs are yellow, with reddish brown feathering about the thighs. The eye is bright yellow, with a beetle-brow. Males are smaller than females. Young birds have grey-brown eyes, with brown, streaky plumage.