Heinrich von Kittlitz

Friedrich Heinrich, Freiherr von Kittlitz (16 February 1799 – 10 April 1874) was a Prussian artist, naval officer, explorer and naturalist.

He was a descendant of a family of old Prussian nobility ("Freiherr" meaning "independent lord" - ranking with a baron).

Through the influence of his maternal uncle Hans Karl von Diebitsch, field marshal in Russia, that he joined the Russian corvette Senjawin on a circumnavigational expedition between 1826 and 1829 under the leadership of Captain Fyodor Petrovich Litke (1797-1882).

[1] Kittlitz travelled to North Africa in 1831 with his friend Eduard Rüppell, but had to return to Germany due to poor health.

It was during his time in Egypt whilst waiting for a boat that he collected specimens of the bird which became known as Kittlitz's plover.