Breeds on Arctic tundra, usually in wet boggy habitats. In the non-breeding seasons (passage and wintering) inhabits wide range of habitats including freshwater and brackish marshes, coastal and inland wetlands (including up to 4,500 m in the Andes), saltmarshes, flooded agricultural fields and grasslands, sewage works and coastal lagoons. Only very rarely uses mudflats (Farmer et al. 2020).

Breeds in northern Russia from eastern base of Taymyr Peninsula and the Khatanga Delta eastward along the arctic coastal plain to Alaska (USA)  and Arctic Canada. The majority of breeding birds appear to be concentrated in northern Alaska, north-west Canada, and east and central Siberia (Farmer et al. 2020). Birds chiefly migrate through North and Central America to winter in South America, chiefly from Peru, southern Bolivia and northern Argentina and Uruguay south to Patagonia (Chile, Argentina). Some birds also winter in Australasia and Oceania, particularly Australia, New Zealand and Polynesia. It is a regular vagrant to Western Europe with records scattered across the Western Palearctic and north Africa.

Conservation Actions Underway
No targeted actions are known, although the species is covered by PRISM survey monitoring.

Conservation Actions Proposed
Protect and preserve important staging areas. Research threats, particularly on the breeding grounds. Undertake more extensive monitoring to better understand the species' global population trend.