This dotterel uses open grassland and stony ground in the Andes and elsewhere in South America. Adults have a tawny throat, and the sexes look similar.
Adults have a tawny throat, grey-brown upperparts, and paler underparts. Male and female plumage is similar.
It lives on arid and semi-arid plains, upland grassland and stony ground. It lays four eggs in a small ground hollow, sometimes surrounded by concentric rings of pebbles.
It has a conspicuous black patch in the center of the belly, a long, slender black bill and pink legs with short, thick toes.
Juveniles are paler beige than adults, with denser black barring on the wings, a brown belly patch and pale pink legs.
Chicks have orange down marked with ochre spots.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.