Von Schrenck’s Bittern is a small heron of reed beds, broad marshes, and rice fields. Males and females have different plumage.
Males have black-brown crowns and bright chestnut backs. The buff-white throat has a dark rufous central stripe; the upper breast is pale red-brown and the lower breast pale buff.
It uses reed beds, broad marshes, and rice fields, and may also appear at sheltered ponds. Males give a rough repeated call on breeding grounds.
It nests alone in reeds or bushes beside or over water, using dry grass lined with dead leaves and grass. Clutches usually contain three to five eggs; both sexes incubate for 16–18 days from the first egg.
Females are smaller, with dark chestnut heads, backs, and wings. Large white-buff spots mark the back and upperwings, and black stripes run down the cream throat.
Juveniles have dark chestnut backs and upperwings spotted with buff. Broad brown and white streaks mark the underparts, and the underwings are grey.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.