European birds are pigeon-sized herons with pale wing panels. They hide in reedbeds and are active at dawn and dusk.
In European birds, males have green-black upperparts and pale wing patches; females are browner, with pale brown-buff wing patches.
Secretive and crepuscular, it favors reedbeds. Birds reaching Britain return to Africa in autumn.
Clutches are commonly five or six eggs in Europe and three or four in the tropics and South Africa. Both parents incubate for 16–20 days, beginning with the first egg.
Juveniles have streaked brown crowns and bolder streaking above and below. Their pale wing patches are heavily mottled brown and buff.
In the sub-Saharan subspecies the neck and wing patches are more rufous-chestnut than in the nominate form. In male Madagascan birds, deep rufous extends onto the underparts and underwings.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.