Habitat
Breeds in wet tundra and short grass in sand dunes (Armstrong 1995) near water. Found nesting in river deltas in dry shrubby areas of Salix brachycarpa or Betula glandulosa and mixed sedges and grasses (Gratto et al. 1983), variably drained upland tundra with low vegetation (Holmes and Pitelka 1968), moist or wet sedge-grass or heath tundra, sandy areas along rivers, and pond-dotted sand dunes (Godfrey 1986). In northern Alaska, favored areas with well-drained ridges for nesting and adjacent wet tundra for feeding (see Johnson and Herter 1989).
References
Armstrong, R. H. 1995. Guide to the birds of Alaska, 4th ed. Alaska Northwest Books, Anchorage, AK. 322 pp.
Godfrey, W. E. 1986. The Birds of Canada. Revised edition. National Museum of Natural Sciences, Ottawa, Canada. 595 pp.
Gratto, C. L., F. Cooke, and R. I. G. Morrison. 1983. Nesting success of yearling and older breeders in the Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla. Canadian Journal of Zoology 61:1133-1137.
Holmes, R. T. and F. A. Pitelka. 1968. Food overlap among coexisting sandpipers on northern Alaskan tundra. Syst. Zool. 17:305-318.
Johnson, S. R. and D. R. Herter. 1989. The Birds of the Beaufort Sea. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Anchorage, AK. 372 pp.
