A shorebird of North America. Breeding adults show dark spots on the belly, and the bird teeters as it walks by water.
Breeding adults have dark spots across the white belly. The spots are less evident outside breeding plumage and in juveniles.
It searches for small animals while walking along lakes, rivers, and streams. Its characteristic walk includes repeated teetering motions.
A soil scrape is lined with dead grass and woody material, often begun by the female and finished by the male. It lays 3–5 eggs, incubated for 19–22 days. Males tend the nest and young; chicks hatch with open eyes and can soon walk and eat.
It eats insect larvae, grasshoppers, beetles, snails and small fish. It picks insects from plants and also snaps at flying prey.
The bill is orange in breeding plumage and pale yellow outside the breeding season. A thin white stripe shows along the wing in flight.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.