This species occurs in salty, brackish water like coastal lagoons, salt lakes or mudflats (Jennings 2010, Aspinall and Porter 2011). It comes to wadis or freshwater sites for short drinking and bathing visits, but does not stay long (Jennings 2010). It feeds in shallow water 5-10 cm deep, but also frequents deeper water, where it swims (Jennings 2010). The species is a bottom feeder and forages both by day and night, feeding by filtering particles through tiny platelets in the bill (Brown et al. 1982, Snow and Perrins 1998). Individuals at Khor Dubai mainly feed on annelid worms and crustaceans, while the population near Abu Dhabi mostly takes Brine Shrimp Artemia salina larvae and midge larvae. Elsewhere in Arabia, it also feeds on gastropods and grit (Jennings 2010). The species is gregarious and commonly occurs in flocks of hundreds of individuals (Jennings 2010).It forms large breeding colonies on sandbanks. The breeding period is synchronised and lasts from December to July (Jennings 2010). Nests have a diameter of about 30 cm and are either mounds of sand above the ground level, or at ground level with the surrounding sand cleared away, thus forming a mound as well (Jennings 2010). Clutches contain usually one egg and in rare cases two eggs, which might be due to egg-dumping by other females (Jennings 2010). It is not clear yet which environmental conditions favour successful breeding in the populations (Jennings 2010).