Medium-sized, plain buffy plover that favors flat open areas with little or no vegetation. Plain whitish underparts with no breast band. Look for black forehead and white eyebrow in breeding plumage. Nonbreeding birds have a plainer face. Also note slender dark bill and upright posture. Rare and local. Rather poorly-named; essentially never seen in mountainous regions. Breeds on shortgrass prairies, often with areas of bare ground. Winters in flocks in barren fields, from the southwestern U.S. to central Mexico.