A lapwing with a black head, white facial markings and a long crest. The bill is red with a black tip and the legs are pink. It lives in dry grassland, sandy areas and other open habitats in Africa.
The black head has a white forehead and a white band around the lower face and hindneck. It has a long black crest, a red bill with a black tip and pink legs.
It eats insects and other invertebrates, foraging on dry plains with short grass, sandy ground and scrub.
The nest is a shallow ground scrape, sometimes lined with pebbles or plant fragments. Both parents incubate, and may cover the eggs with grass when leaving the nest.
It takes adult and larval insects and gastropods such as snails, picking them from the ground.
The eyes are yellow, with a red wattle between the eye and bill. Juveniles have a smaller crest and wattles, and pale edges to dark feathers.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.