This migratory plover searches for insects in dry, open country. The breeding male has broad orange and black breast bands, while nonbreeding plumage is mottled brown.
A breeding male has broad chestnut-orange and black breast bands, whereas nonbreeding plumage is mottled brown with white below.
It uses short grassland and saltmarsh, feeds on insects, and often runs before stopping.
At its breeding grounds it makes a shallow ground scrape lined with vegetation and cow dung, and lays three eggs.
In northwestern Australia, large numbers may feed together where grasshoppers swarm on grassland.
Leg color varies from pale yellow to pink or brown. The underwing is dark brown, and the upperwing has little or no pale wing bar.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.