Adults have dull brown upperparts with buff-edged black centers to the back feathers.

Their face and throat are gray, their breast olive brown, and their flanks barred with black and white.

It is found mostly near the coast where it inhabits wet fields and meadows, rushy lake shores, and reedbeds.

"[6] The IUCN originally assessed the austral rail in 1988 as Threatened, then in 1994 as Critically Endangered, and since 2000 as Vulnerable.

The principal threat is grazing in its habitat but water diversion and introduced American mink (Neogale vison) also contribute to its decline.