Distribution

Breeding Range

Largely low Arctic from Alaska’s western (south to Yukon River delta, St. Lawrence and St. Matthew Is., and north through Seward Peninsula to Cape Lisburne) and northern (Wainwright, Point Barrow) coasts, east to northern coast of w. Yukon, Herschel I., and disjunctly on Cape Bathurst, Northwest Territories. Also breeds in central and e. Arctic on mainland (Boothia and Melville Peninsulas) and islands (from Banks, Victoria, King William and Somerset northwest to Prince Patrick, Melville, and Bathurst Is.; from Devon north to Axel Heiberg, Ellesmere, and e. Bylot, on sw. Baffin; and on Southampton, Coats, and Mansel in n. Hudson Bay; see Fig. 1; Bailey 1948; Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959; Godfrey 1966, 1986; Nettleship 1967, 1973; Salomonsen 1981; Johnson and Herter 1989; Kessel 1989; Armstrong 1991; Sirois and McRae 1994; Am. Ornithol. Union 1998; Lepage et al. 1998; Birds of Yukon Project unpubl.).

Winter Range

Winters in coastal areas from n. California (more locally north to n. Washington, and rarely sw. British Columbia), and n. Massachusetts (also locally in s. Nova Scotia) south along Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the U.S. (including larger Channel Is. of California), along Gulf Coast, along both coasts of Middle America (including Clipperton I. and the Revillagigedo Is. off Pacific coast of Mexico), on Bermuda, throughout West Indies, and along both coasts of South America (including Galapagos Is., Netherlands Antilles, Tobago, and Trinidad) south to Tierra del Fuego (Garrett and Dunn 1981, Tufts 1986, Amos 1991, Am. Ornithol. Union 1998, Raffaele et al. 1998, Christmas Bird Count [CBC] data).

Breeding Range

Outside arctic America, breeds from n. and ne. Greenland, Svalbard (Spitsbergen), n. Europe (n. Scandinavia and s. Baltic islands), Novaya Zemlya, and New Siberian Is., n. Siberia, Wrangel I., east to Chukotsk Peninsula and the Bering Sea (Cramp and Simmons 1983, Sibley and Monroe 1990, Boertmann 1994, van Gils and Wiersma 1996, Am. Ornithol. Union 1998).

Winter Range

Winters along Atlantic coasts in w. and s. Europe south to s. Africa, and coastally in Pacific from Hawaiian Is. south to s. Asia and Micronesia, Polynesia, Australia, and New Zealand (Thomp-son 1973, Cramp and Simmons 1983, Sibley and Monroe 1990, Am. Ornithol. Union 1998).

Patterns of distribution and levels of abundance during late 1800s and early 1900s poorly known for the Americas. Possible decreases early this century due to heavy shooting associated with shorebird hunting and the millinery trade (particularly New England); best documented in Massachusetts, where species decreased markedly through the 1800s (Forbush 1912, Bent 1929, Doughty 1975), but precise details uncertain. Likely resembles human-induced changes known in Palearctic: extirpated in certain regions of s. Baltic, e. and w. Germany, Denmark, with decreases since nineteenth century in other w. European areas such as Norway (Stavanger area), n. Britain, Faeroes, Svalbard (Bjørnøya), and Iceland (Venables and Venables 1955, Williamson 1970, Haftorn 1971, Sharrock 1976, Beven and England 1977, Glutz von Blotzheim et al. 1977, Sharrock et al. 1978, Cramp and Simmons 1983, Bloch and Sørensen 1984, Petersen 1992).

No data available for this species; fossil record generally poor for modern shorebirds, including tribe Arenariini (see Olson 1985, Feduccia 1996).