Usually breeds on relatively flat and marshy tundra vegetated by sedges and grasses (Pitelka 1959, Portenko 1981, Johnsgard 1981). In northern Alaska, breeds on arctic coastal plains in sites with low lying ponds and marshy ground or with a mosaic of raised hummocks interspersed with marshy areas (Pitelka 1959, Troy 1994); almost entirely absent from dry coastal tundra (Troy 1994). Also occurs inland from arctic coast in areas with cotton grass tussock-dwarf shrub tundra (Pitelka 1959, Troy 1994). In the Yukon, nests on wet tundra at edges of low centered wet sedge polygons (Alexander et al. 2003).
Alexander, S. A., F. I. Doyle, C. D. Ecker, H. Grünberg, N. L. Hughes, M. Jensen, I. Johnson, D. H. Mossop, W. A. Nixon, and P. H. Sinclair. 2003. Birds of the Yukon Territory (P. H. Sinclair, W. A. Nixon, C. D. Eckert, and N. L. Hughes, eds.). UBC Press, Vancouver, B.C.
Johnsgard, P. A. 1981. The plovers, sandpipers, and snipes of the world. Univ. of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.
Pitelka, F. A. 1959. Numbers, breeding schedule, and territoriality in Pectoral Sandpipers of northern Alaska. Condor 61: 233-264.
Portenko, L. A. 1981. Birds of the Chukchi Peninsula and Wrangell Island. Vol. 1. Smithson. Inst. And Nat. Sci. Found., Washington, D.C.
Troy, D. M. 1994. Bird use of coastal tundra at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska: 1991-1992. Report by Troy Research Associates for BP Exploration (Alaska Inc.)