The Buff-breasted Sandpiper is a shorebird with buff plumage and a short bill. It walks through dry grass to find insects, and males display with raised wings on the breeding grounds.
Adults are buff overall, with fine black streaks on the crown. Juveniles have a more scaly-looking back.
It walks through short grass and picks insects from the ground or plants. On the breeding grounds, males display to females with spread wings, while females build the nest and raise the young.
The female chooses dry, well-drained tundra and lines a sedge-concealed scrape with lichens, leaves and moss. Two to five eggs have pale backgrounds heavily marked with dark brown. Chicks hatch active and downy.
It walks quickly, stops to look and listen, and picks up beetles, ants, flies, grasshoppers and their larvae, spiders, pillbugs, snails and earthworms. It also eats small amounts of seeds.
It has a dark bill, yellow legs, a rounded head and large eyes. The underwing is white with a dark comma-shaped mark at the wrist.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.