The Dwarf Bittern is a small heron found around rivers and wetlands across much of sub-Saharan Africa, including places where water levels change seasonally.
Adults have a dark slate-gray head and back, a pale throat, and black streaks on the underside. The male has elongated feathers on the head and neck.
It walks slowly near shallow water and through vegetation while looking for insects, small fish, and frogs. It forages mainly at night and also by day when the weather is cloudy.
It builds twig platforms lined with coarse grass on branches or bushes over water, nesting alone or in small groups. Clutches contain two to five eggs, usually three or four; chicks receive regurgitated food.
Females are paler than males, with a more rufous belly and yellow irises. In courting males the legs and feet become bright orange.
Juveniles are paler and more buff than adults, with buff-tipped wing coverts. Their underparts are more russet and their foreneck streaks narrower.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.