A small Asian shorebird, rare visitor to North America. Alternate Adult has bright rufous wash over head and neck, dark necklace of spots on breast, pale supercilium and throat, gray wings with rufous-edged scapulars, white underparts, black legs, and thin black bill. Basic Adult is very drab, gray above and white below. Juvenile has dingy-brown breast, dark auriculars and cap, whitish throat and supercilium, and gray wings with rufous-edged tertials. Note very thin black bill, black legs, and gray tertials. Plumage is very similar to Semipalmated, Least, and Western Sandpipers, and Little Stint.

Length: 16 (cm) Wingspan: 36 (cm)

Habitat:

Beaches, estuaries, mudflats. Nests on tundra.

Behavior:

Often occurs in flocks with peeps and other shorebirds. Nest, in Asia, is in a lined ground depression.

Feeding:

Forages on tundra, mud, or sand, picking up prey by sight; eats a variety of insects and other invertebrates.