The adult has a black crown on the head, with a cream coloured stripe running through it. Cream coloured eyebrows with a dark stripe through the eye. A dark brown and reddish back, with ochre coloured longitudinal stripes which extend from the base of the neck. A brown breast and neck with dark brown streaks also in a "V" shape which turns to barring towards the flanks. A white belly. The white tips of the secondary feathers can be seen in flight. A brownish tail, dark barring and with white outer remiges. A long, straight bill, at least twice as big as its head. Greenish coloured legs. It nests in a wide variety of habitats, always linked to wetlands, (marshland, lagoons, grazing lands, moors, scrubland and tidal flats). In winter, on banks and vegetation associated with rivers, reservoirs, water holes, lagoons, etc. Also in flooded arable croplands (unirrigated cereal fields, fallow lands, rice fields, etc.).