The Lesser Jacana is a small jacana of shallow freshwater wetlands with grasses and sedges. It may move as water levels change.
The forehead is golden-rufous, changing to cinnamon on the crown, with a white eyebrow and brown eye-stripe. The underparts are white, and the wings have white edges.
It uses shallow freshwater wetlands that flood seasonally or irregularly, foraging among grasses and sedges. It moves as water levels change and builds a small floating nest.
It walks across floating plants and picks insects from the vegetation.
In southern Africa it nests as an isolated monogamous pair. Both sexes build a small floating pile of plant stems and incubate two to five eggs for about 21 days.
When threatened, chicks dive underwater with only the bill tip above the surface to breathe. For roughly their first month, parents intermittently brood them between the wing and body.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.