Kittlitz's plover walks along African coasts and inland sand or mud, searching for small prey.
The crown is sandy brown, contrasting with white areas of the head and a black line along the side of the neck. Dark feather edges give its sandy-brown body a mottled appearance.
In the dry landscapes of southwestern Madagascar, Kittlitz’s Plover breeds in the same area as two other plover species. Researchers monitored 2,077 nests across all three species from 2009 to 2020; 1,185 were Kittlitz’s Plover nests. The paper describes this species as having flexible breeding and care by one parent. Its incubation period is about 26 days.
Nest survival for Kittlitz’s Plover varied with clutch size, nest age, and year. Estimated daily nest survival was 0.950. The researchers also tested models that included El Niño and La Niña conditions, but the climate effects were not statistically clear. The long record shows how breeding results differed with the stage of a nest and from year to year.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In the southwest Madagascar study, estimated breeding-season nest success for Kittlitz’s Plovers was 0.161 ± 0.056. Daily nest survival was 0.950 ± 0.002, and clutch size, nest age, and year were associated with survival.