The species no longer breeds in Sweden. In its remaining core areas it breeds on open sandy and muddy shores as well as in salt pans, where the female normally lays 3 eggs in a shallow scrape directly on the ground. The open nest site is highly exposed to disturbance, predation and high water, which is an important reason for the species' decline. It is precisely this sensitivity to disturbance on easily accessible beaches that is thought to have contributed strongly to the species disappearing as a Swedish breeding bird.