A small shorebird that runs along the water’s edge, probing wet sand for tiny prey with a short black bill and black legs.
It has a short, stout black bill and black legs. Breeding plumage is mottled with rusty tones on the head and back; nonbreeding birds are pale gray above and white below.
It pecks and probes wet sand after waves recede for small crabs, amphipods, marine worms and mollusks, running back and forth with the waves in loose feeding flocks.
The female chooses a site near a freshwater lake or pond. A shallow scrape in stony ground is sparsely lined with leaves, moss and other material. The three or four greenish or brownish eggs have dark marks and streaks.
Both males and females incubate; incubation lasts 23–27 days. Chicks hatch covered in down, with dark legs and bills and black eyes. Incubating parents may creep away from approaching predators while feigning injury.
Juveniles have a checkered back and plain white underparts. In flight, white wing stripes contrast with the darker wings.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.