This shorebird breeds along Arctic and subarctic coasts. Outside the breeding season, it probes coastal mud and sand with its long bill.
Breeding males have rufous underparts. Larger females are plainer, with a buff wash across the streaked breast.
On breeding grounds it also picks insects and berries. During migration and the nonbreeding season, it gathers in flocks and probes coastal flats for shellfish, crustaceans, and worms.
The baueri subspecies migrating to New Zealand breeds in western Alaska, laying four eggs in a shallow bowl often lined with lichen. Both parents incubate and brood the mobile chicks, which fledge after 28–30 days.
In New Zealand it feeds on intertidal ground at low tide and gathers at high-tide roosts. On nonbreeding grounds it mainly eats polychaete worms, with small bivalves and crustaceans.
In nonbreeding plumage the rump and tail are barred brown. Juveniles have broad buff edges to back and scapular feathers. Males are smaller and shorter-billed than females.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.