This sandpiper has long, tapering wings and migrates from Arctic breeding grounds to South America. It often forages on dry ground away from water.
Its plumage blends delicate buff and brown tones, and its long, tapering wings are especially noticeable.
It walks and searches visually for prey such as cranefly and midge larvae, beetles, spiders and tiny crustaceans, pecking at the ground and sometimes probing damp sand or mud.
It nests on dry tundra ground, sometimes beside a rock or under low plants. Both sexes shape a shallow scrape with their feet and breast and line it with leaves, lichens and nearby material; some nests remain unlined.
Both adults incubate and tend the active, downy chicks. Females often leave before the young can fly, and males continue the remaining chick care.
Its wingtips project beyond the tail and the black bill droops very slightly. Adults are mottled brown and black above, white below, with a brown-streaked breast. Pale feather edges give juveniles a scaly back.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.