This is a bird species with a unique description. It is medium-sized, has short legs and some good coloration. The bird has a stubby bill all meant to help it adjust to the environment within. Mostly the bird inhabits the desert areas where it is dry. Some of the species favor steppe grasslands as well as the alpine plant communities. The environments are mostly within the ranges of 18,000 ft (5,500 m) above sea level. Seed-snipes were considered traditionally as charadrii-form birds. The biochemical evidence is a great support of the biological relationship. The closest relative to these birds include the plains-wanderer.

In terms of physical characteristics, the bird has stubby bills as well as short legs. The bird species has two larger breeds that resemble a grouse. For the two smaller breeds, they resemble sand grouse. The bird has a membrane uniquely with narrow slits. This is for the openings. They are relatively important especially within the habitat because they serve as protection during dusty storms. They cover the bird’s nostrils of the respective seed-snipes.

The bird’s body feathers are plentiful. They are also downy at the base. This provides the bird with survival tactics in the respective environments. Within the desert, there are times when the environments are extremely cold and the seed-snipes need the broad feathery body to tolerate the cold. This is an adaptive feature like that of the pigeons as well as other bird families inhabiting cold regions.

The bird feathers also fall off quit easily during different seasons. It is also an adaptive feature meant to confuse any predators within the habitat. For the bird’s wings, they are fairly narrow, pointed and very long. The wings have 10 primaries that are the outer flight feathers and for the secondary, they are 15 in total. The tracts of the respective feathers on either side of shoulders of the bird are long. They also nearly reach the bird’s wing tip. For the tail, it has 12 retraces mainly the tail feathers. The tail is also short and well rounded resembling a wedge shape.

The bird has long feet each with three front toes. The feet also have an extra hind toe distinctive in nature. The distribution of this bird species is equally uneven. However, the birds restrict themselves mostly in neo-tropical regions. This is where they inhabit mainly the Andes as well as the adjacent Patagonia regions. When breeding, the birds are found mostly in pairs. Some go in groups of at least 5–6 birds. There are times when they move in flocks.

Their habitat mostly revolves around the cold regions. They are also the windswept habitats. This is because they hate disturbances and humans do not visit these areas frequently. Their behavior is also distinctive from other types of birds. They mostly walk slowly in the regions and on the ground. This is where they feed by detecting the prey from afar and attacking. When attacked, the birds literate by fleeing from danger and they make loud noises to scare away the invaders. They also fly in a zigzag pattern to confuse the predator and rescue themselves from danger.