This sandpiper is usually found in grasslands rather than wetlands. It feeds there and breeds in North America before migrating to South America.
This short-billed sandpiper walks through grasslands while searching for food.
It walks through grasslands, picking up grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, ants, caterpillars and other prey from the ground and low plants. It also eats seeds and berries, migrating from North American breeding grounds to South American grasslands.
It nests in a shallow ground scrape within dense grass. The male usually starts clearing the site with his feet and breast, and the female finishes and lines it with grass, leaves or twigs. The two to seven eggs are buff with dark spots.
Both adults incubate. Downy chicks can leave the nest and feed themselves almost immediately after hatching, while parents remain with the young.
It has long legs, a slender neck, small head and large eyes. Adults and young are mottled golden-brown and blackish above, white on the throat and belly, with dark breast and flank streaks and chevrons and a white eye-ring.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.