This species winters along the coast, where it frequents sandy or rocky beaches, mudflats or tidal creeks (Richardson 1990, Aspinall and Porter 2011). Only during migration, it is found on lakes or sewage treatment plants further inland (Richardson 1990, Aspinall and Porter 2011). There is no information available about its diet in the UAE; elsewhere outside the breeding season, it mainly feeds on insects, crustaceans, molluscs, annelids, echinoderms, small fish, carrion and birds eggs (del Hoyo et al. 1996). The species is fully migratory (del Hoyo et al. 1996). Birds wintering in the UAE breed from May to August in solitary pairs along the coast or on islands in the high Arctic (Hayman et al. 1986, del Hoyo et al. 1996, Snow and Perrins 1998). Part of the population may migrate further south to winter along the coast of eastern and southern Africa. Someone-year-old birds remain in the wintering range during the summer. The species migrates in large flocks and is gregarious and sociable when feeding or roosting in winter, often foraging in large flocks in tidal areas (del Hoyo et al. 1996, Snow and Perrins 1998).