A small sandpiper whose breeding adults show rufous and golden markings.
Breeding adults show rufous and golden markings on the head and wings.
During spring migration, large flocks gather in Alaska and along the California coast. On mudflats they search for small aquatic prey around the tides. It eats insects, spiders, tiny mollusks and amphipods, and skims thin films of diatoms and microbes from intertidal surfaces.
The male prepares a shallow scrape in dry tundra and the female chooses the nest site. Both arrange dry leaves, grasses and lichens in it. The clutch contains two to four eggs densely spotted with brown.
Both adults incubate and defend the nest. Chicks hatch active and downy. Females depart before the young fledge, leaving males to complete chick care.
The bill and legs are black, and the bill tip droops slightly. Nonbreeding adults are pale gray above and whitish below. Juveniles have crisp, scaly upperparts with gold and rusty feather edges.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.