A sandpiper that breeds in northeastern Siberia and winters along coasts in Southeast Asia and Australia. Adults in breeding plumage have a breast band and orange-brown shoulder feathers.
Adults in breeding plumage have a grey-streaked head, a dark breast band, and orange-brown shoulder feathers. Females are less strongly marked, and nonbreeding birds are mostly grey.
When enough are present they gather in flocks. In Hong Kong, flocks have been observed calling and departing north in the early evening; juveniles are numerous during autumn passage.
It breeds in Siberia during the northern summer, laying up to four eggs. Both sexes incubate, and the male accompanies the brood after hatching.
It rapidly jabs the bill into soft intertidal mud, especially at the water’s edge, taking prey on or just below the surface. Bivalves dominate its food, with snails, worms and crustaceans also eaten.
The bill is longer than the head. Flight reveals a narrow white wingbar and whitish rump and upper tail coverts. Juvenile wing coverts have pale edges and dark shaft streaks.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.