Characterization: Medium to large species measuring some 40 cm in length. It has bright spots on its face, a white neck, a black posterior neck and red feet, in addition to a mirror in the wings the color of which varies in shades of black, green, or bright blue depending on how light reflects on it. The male's beak is red, while the female's is blue.

Distribution: From the Guianas and Venezuela to Argentina and throughout Brazil.

Habitat: Dams, lakes, wetlands, rice paddies, and other wetlands.

Habits: Daytime and aquatic species. It is sociable and may be spotted in high concentrations.

Diet: Omnivorous, feeding on small seeds and leaves, rice, worms, insect larvae and small crustaceans.

Breeding: This bird lays up to 14 eggs in floating leaf nests in the aquatic vegetation near the margin.

In the UFRA area: This bird, which spotted in the São Francisco Sugarmill areas, is considered infrequent in the surveys because it was spotted only 4 times. Its spatial distribution was restricted to native forests and drainage ditches.