This species inhabits coastal zones, but is also found on wetlands further inland (Aspinall and Porter 2011). Generally in the non-breeding season, it occurs on coastal brackish lagoons, tidal mudflats, estuaries, salt marshes, exposed coral reefs, rocky and sandy shores, and inland on the muddy edges of marshes, rivers and lakes (both saline and freshwater), irrigated land and flooded areas (Urban;et al.;1986, del Hoyo;et al.;1996, Snow and Perrins 1998). There is no information available about its diet in the UAE; elsewhere during the non-breeding season, its diet consists of polychaete worms, molluscs, crustaceans and occasionally insects and seeds (del Hoyo;et al. 1996). The species is a long-distance migrant (del Hoyo et al. 1996, Snow and Perrins 1998). It breeds along the coast on the Taymyr Peninsula in northern Siberia and on islands of the Arctic Ocean;(Johnsgard 1981, del Hoyo;et al.;1996). Individuals wintering in the UAE migrate via the Black Sea and Caspian Sea; part of the population moves further south to winter in eastern and southern Africa (Van Gils and Wiersma 1996).