This bird is a tiny tern with narrow wings and a very low tail fork. In the summer, the adult bird has a white forehead and a black lore, a yellow beak with a small black tip, orange-yellow legs and 2–3 grey-black outer primary wing feathers. In the winter, the lore turns white, while the front of the crown grows lighter. The beak of a juvenile bird is dark, the back and shoulders have a dark scale pattern and a faint dark line on the secondary flight feathers.
The Northern lapwing is a pigeon-sized wader with a stout body and a unique long thin tuft on its nape. The dark top part of the plumage looks slightly green and purple with a metallic sheen, while the underside is white. The wing tips are impressively wide with white feathers below and dark above. In the summer, male birds can be recognised by their longer tufts and pure black throats and faces, while females have shorter tufts and a smaller black mark on the front of their necks that is slightly mixed with white. In the winter, the feathers of adult birds at the front of the neck and beneath the chin are white, while the top part and covert feathers are slightly cream-coloured at the tips.