The Southern Screamer is a large South American wetland bird with a black-and-white neck band and long red legs. It feeds on grasses and aquatic plants near shallow water.
Most of its body is pale gray, with a narrow white band and a black band below it on the neck. Red skin around the eyes and bill, along with long red legs, are also distinctive. Both sexes have two spurs on each wing.
It mainly eats grass and aquatic plants while walking in shallow water. It can swim, but is also seen wading or perching in low trees near the water. Both sexes build a large stick nest on the ground near shallow water. A clutch has 2–7 eggs; both parents incubate and care for the chicks. Incubation lasts 43–46 days.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.