They have a very distinctive orange bill. The male's plumage is brown to grey with a contrasting light grey-white head. It is a fairly large species of duck with males weighing between 33 g, and females between 29 g. The Falkland steamer duck measures between 61 and 74 cm in length and has a wingspan of 84 to 94 cm. In short, the Falkland steamer duck is a promising model organism to study and understand the process behind the evolution of flightlessness in birds. Regardless of the these unknowns, the fact that this species has recently become flightless allows scientists to identify specific genes and reconstruct the evolutionary steps necessary to evolve flightlessness with a level of detail that cannot be matched when working with older specimens. However, it is difficult to determine if these specific wing traits have directly evolved because of flightlessness or to support steaming behaviour because these two characteristics appear to have evolved at the same time. This would suggest that the Falkland steamer ducks have just recently become flightless. In fact, both the Falkland steamer duck and the closely-related flying steamer duck contain genetic sequences associated with flight-capable wings and flightless wings. More specifically, scientists believe that they are currently witnessing the evolution of flightlessness happening right in front of their eyes. This family is of particular interest to scientists because it contains both species capable and incapable of flight. Steamer ducks are a young group from an evolutionarily point of view and have a last common ancestor believed to have lived about 2 million years ago. Some scientists have proposed that the flying steamer duck and the Falkland steamer duck should be a single species but more evidence is needed to settle that question. Possible hybridization could account for the genetic similarities between the two species. However, they tend to reproduce in different geographic areas. A study from 2012 established that these two species are genetically indistinguishable. It is believed that they might still be able to interbreed. The Falkland steamer duck is most closely related to the flying steamer duck which can also be found in and around the Falkland Islands. It is in the genus Tachyeres with the three other species of steamer ducks, all found in South America. The Falkland steamer duck is part of the Anseriformes order and the Anatidae family alongside ducks, geese, and swans.

Called up the tube that the steamer