Habitat
In Alaska, nests in wet, flat, dwarf shrub tundra, dry dwarf-shrub ridges and steep slopes, and rolling (50-500 m elevation, 3-10% slope), open, usually moist tundra among sedge hummocks (Murie 1963, Skeel and Mallory 1996). Areas characterized by abundant berry-producing shrubs (McCaffery, personal communication, in Skeel and Mallory 1963). Habitat types in breeding areas include: low shrub/tussock tundra (Betula nana, Empetrum nigrum, Ledum palustre, Vaccimium spp., Salix spp.), mixed shrub thicket/tundra (Salix spp., Betula nana, and Alnus crispa over tussocks), tall shrubs (Salix alaxensis, typically along water courses), and shrub meadow/tundra (similar species as low shrub/tussock tundra but more prostrate and more bare ground). Sedge (Carex aquatilis, C. bigelowii, Eriophorium spp.) and lichen meadows, though a small fraction of the overall land area, are also important habitats.
References
Murie, A. 1963. Birds of Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska. Mt. McKinley Nat. Hist. Assoc., San Francisco, CA.
Skeel, M. A. and E. P. Mallory. 1996. Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus). In The Birds of North America, No.219 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists’ Union.
