A small duck of high Andean lakes and wetlands, it has finely spotted gray-brown plumage and feeds close to the water surface.
The sexes have similar plumage, with fine spots across a gray-brown body.
It feeds in shallow water, dabbling or tipping forward with its head underwater. Foods include seeds and aquatic plants, algae, and small aquatic animals.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.