This wetland bird has a black head and breast, bronze-green back and wings, and a short reddish tail.
Adults have a glossy black head, neck and breast, bronze-green back and wings, and a short chestnut-red tail.
It walks over floating plants on long toes and picks insects and other invertebrates from the vegetation or water surface.
At a mainland Penang wetland in Malaysia in August and September 2022, a male guided the chicks and sheltered them in vegetation or under his wings. The observed young fed themselves.
In the same Penang observations, the female once joined the male in defending the chicks when Indochinese Swamphens approached.
Adults have a dark neck and a striking white eyebrow. Juveniles have white cheeks, an orangish neck and wholly brown wings.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.