This open-country plover is notable for its yellow facial wattles and a spur on each wing.
Adults have yellow facial wattles and wing spurs; the amount of black on the head and the shape of the wattles vary between regional forms, and these features are less developed in young birds.
It searches the ground for insects and earthworms in wetlands, along coasts, and in grassland; pairs defend their nest and chicks.
Both sexes make a shallow ground scrape, where 3–5 eggs are laid. Both parents incubate and care for the young.
Chicks hatch covered in down and can leave the nest and feed themselves within a few hours.
The back and wings are brown and the underparts white. Southern birds have black on the hindneck and sides of the breast, with smaller yellow facial wattles than northern birds.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.