Adults: Head, neck, wings, tail and thighs, black. Back and underparts white but in dry season stained red-brown. Eye, brown. Bill, flesh-grey. Bare skin of face, flesh-grey. Feet and part-webbed toes, yellow. Claws, slate.
Downy Young: Head and neck, cinnamon-red, with a dark-grey stripe on upper neck. Back, flank, dark-grey. Underparts, white. Undertail and underwing, pale-grey. Bill, claret. Legs, claret.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9