This species occurs mainly in coastal mudflats and tidal pools, but also in shallow fresh and brackish water and in wetlands further inland (Richardson 1990, del Hoyo et al. 1996, Aspinall and Porter 2011). There is no information available about its diet in the UAE; elsewhere it is omnivorous and feeds mainly on marine nereid worms, small bivalves and snails, crustaceans, insects, as well as the seeds of aquatic plants (del Hoyo et al. 1996, Snow and Perrins 1998). The species is migratory. Birds wintering in the UAE breed in June in wet lowlands of subarctic Scandinavia (Richardson 1990, del Hoyo et al. 1996). Individuals leave the breeding grounds by July, and stop-over in substantial numbers in Sivash (southern Ukraine) and on the Caspian Sea or the Bulgarian seaboard, before arriving in wintering grounds in late July and August (Richardson 1990, del Hoyo et al. 1996). The species migrates singly or in small groups, although during the spring migration flocks of up to several hundred can occur (del Hoyo et al. 1996). The population departs the wintering grounds in spring in April or May (Richardson 1990, del Hoyo et al. 1996).A few non-breeding birds remain at the wintering sites during the summer (del Hoyo et al. 1996, Pedersen et al. 2017).