Occurs on a variety of coastal lowland tundra or montane subarctic tundra; vegetation is ankle high; seldom found at elevations greater than a few hundred meters above sea level or far inland (Gill et al. 2002); will also nest on disturbed habitats (around airports and on reclaimed/ revegetated land), mostly on Bering Sea Islands (Gill et al. 2002). On Pribilof Islands, breeds on high upland tundra (Nelson 1887, Hanna 1921, Preble and McAtee 1923) while on St. Matthew Island utilizes lowlands often just back from the driftwood lines (Hanna 1921). Associated with forb and forb-sedge tundra, rocky shrub tundra/ uplands, crowberry meadows, sedge meadows, beach ridges and dunes (Gill et al. 2002). Nest site generally in upland heath meadows; most nests placed directly on substrate underlain by moss. Nest sites on the Pribilof Islands had little cover when nests were initiated, but those positioned in forb-sedge tundra were probably well-concealed by the time of hatch (Gill et al. 2002).
Gill, R. E., P. S. Tomkovich, and B. J. McCaffery. 2002. Rock sandpiper (Calidris ptilocnemis). In The Birds of North America, Vol. 18, No. 686 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists’ Union.
Hanna, G. D. 1921. The Pribilof Sandpiper. Condor 23:50-57.
Nelson, E. W. 1887. Birds of Alaska with a partial bibliography of Alaska ornithology. Pp. 19-226 in Report upon natural history collections made in Alaska between the years 1877 and 1881 (H. W. Henshaw, ed.) Signal Service, U. S. Army, Arctic Ser. Publ. 3. U. S. Gov. Printing Office, Washington, D. C.
Preble, E. A. and W. L. McAtee. 1923. Birds and mammals of the Pribilof Islands, Alaska. In A biological survey of the Pribilof Islands, Alaska. N. Am. Fauna. 46:1-28, 245-255.