It occurs mostly on intertidal mudflats, and wet lowland pastures in winter. Prey items are gleaned from the surface of the substrate without probing. In winter, it feeds on marine worms, small mollusks, crustaceans, earthworms, and insects.
Some birds shift between Humboldt Bay mudflats and lowland pastures according to the tide.
This species nests in the Arctic on tundra. The nest is usually on a well-drained site and consists of a depression lined with fragments of mosses or lichens. Nesting densities of 0.3 to 2.3 pairs per square km were recorded in various studies. Breeding begins in mid-late May at lower latitudes, but is delayed until late June at the highest latitudes. Like most shorebirds, the average clutch has 4, speckled, cryptically colored eggs.