This small plover lives by high-Andean rivers and lakes. Its head and neck colors change between breeding and winter plumage.
About 18 cm long, it has a black bill and legs, white face and underside, black head markings, a reddish hindneck, and a brown back. In winter, the reddish area disappears and the black on the head and neck turns brown.
In northwestern Argentina it uses river and lake shores at 3,000–4,000 m, in pairs or groups. It eats small crustaceans in shallow pools.
Pairs nest in shallow scrapes in short vegetation or clay ground. Clutches usually contain two eggs, exceptionally three or four, with dense dark spots on a sandy or buff background.
Downy chicks are white below and brown with black spots above. Adults watch over them and brood them during cold periods. Small chicks flatten against the ground when threatened; older chicks run away.
Juveniles lack the strong black and chestnut head colors and black neck-side patches of adults. Their faces are less white, and the breast band is very faint.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.