A small, tawny-backed bustard with a reddish base to the bill and a strongly demarcated white belly. The male has a blue-gray neck and dark facial markings. Small groups strut through open grassland and bush at elevations below 2000 m. Often first detected by a characteristic, continuous, croaking, nasal “anghara-anghara”, as well as by other similar calls. Female White-bellied Bustard strongly resembles female Black-bellied Bustard, but White-bellied has a shorter neck and legs and white rather than black foreparts to the underwing.