A black breast band separates the lapwing's grey head and neck from the white underside.

The leg colour brightens during the spring breeding season, when the birds sometimes move to higher elevations.

Males show mutual aggression at this time and establish territories by calling and display flights which may include exaggerated wing beats.

Newly found territories are most aggressively defended through vocal and visual threat displays or aerial mobbing.

The black-winged lapwing is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.