STATUS: Abundant.
HABITAT: Inhabits subarctic and low to high Arctic tundra from coasts, dunes, borders of tidal inlets and deltas to damp grassy flats in interior and wet riverside tundra. Often occurs near lakes or pools, shifting from first areas uncovered by melting snow and surface ice to others becoming clear shortly afterwards, including upland tundra. In other seasons, frequents mudflats, sandy beaches, and wet meadows, favoring the vicinity of water on tidal flats, lagoons, and ponds.
SPECIAL HABITAT REQUIREMENTS: Grassy or hummocky tundra.
NEST: Nests in a slight depression on the ground, amid short herbage, sometimes in sand on grassy dunes or in low wet tundra near small lakes.
FOOD: Forages by snatching food from surface and probing in soft mud on mudflats or in wet sand exposed by ebbing tide. Eats beetles, flies, fly larvae, mosquitoes, small mollusks, marine worms, small crustaceans, and bits of seaweeds.
REFERENCES: Cramp and Simmons 1983, Davis in Farrand 1983a, Palmer 1967, Terres 1980, Townsend in Bent 1927.