This species is found along the coast and in inland wetlands (Aspinall and Porter 2011). It winters on sheltered coastal waters, estuaries and along large rivers, occupying harbours, jetties, piers, beaches and coastal wetlands including lagoons, rivers, lakes, swamps and saltworks, mangroves and saltmarshes (del Hoyo et al. 1996, Higgins and Davies 1996). During this season, it roosts on unvegetated sandy beaches, shores of estuaries or lagoons, sandbars and rocky shores (Higgins and Davies 1996). There is no information available about its diet in the UAE; elsewhere the species is opportunistic, its diet consisting predominantly of small fish and occasionally planktonic crustaceans and insects (del Hoyo et al. 1996). It forages in flocks over freshwater as well as marine habitats, and often follows predatory fish, waiting for panicking baitfish to surface. It is gregarious throughout the year (Snow and Perrins 1998). The species is strongly migratory (del Hoyo et al. 1996, Snow and Perrins 1998). It breeds between April and June in solitary pairs or colonially in groups (of up to several thousand pairs in central Asia) (del Hoyo et al. 1996). Individuals migrate south after breeding between August and October, returning to the breeding grounds in March or April (del Hoyo et al. 1996).