This small grebe lives in shallow ponds and wetlands and swims underwater in search of food.
In breeding plumage it is dark gray, with a golden eye and a tuft of white feathers at the rear of the body.
It swims among aquatic plants and eats insects and small frogs.
It builds a mound of wet plant material near the water’s edge, with a hollow center, and lays 3–7 eggs. Both parents incubate and rear the chicks, which ride on their backs.
Males and females duet with rapid trilling calls. During courtship, the two birds may rise up and rush forward together, propelled by their feet.
Nonbreeding adults are duller, with a paler bill and whitish throat. Juveniles resemble them but have faint stripes on the face.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.