Dunlin

Calidris alpina

A small sandpiper that forms large mudflat flocks, with breeding birds showing a black belly patch and rufous back.

Key facts

Dunlin (Calidris alpina) is a carnivore animal classified as Bird · Charadriiformes · Scolopacidae.
Primary habitats are coast · freshwater · polar, with a range across Palearctic · Nearctic · Afrotropical · Indomalayan.
Activity is diurnal, sociality is herd, and conservation status is LC (Least Concern).
A small sandpiper that forms large mudflat flocks, with breeding birds showing a black belly patch and rufous back.
Breeds on wet Arctic tundra and winters on mudflats, beaches, estuaries, saltmarsh, and shallow lake shores.

Habitat range map

Native rangeOccasional / Transient

Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)

Breeds on wet Arctic tundra and winters on mudflats, beaches, estuaries, saltmarsh, and shallow lake shores.

The bill is slightly downcurved and legs are black. Breeding plumage has a black belly, while winter plumage is gray-brown.

Large flocks fly in rolling waves and feed quickly across mudflats, shifting with the tide.

Worms, bivalves, small crustaceans, and insect larvae are probed from mud surfaces and shallow sediment.

Shallow ground nests are made on tundra. Precocial chicks feed for themselves while guarded by adults.

Migration and wintering depend on networks of large tidal wetlands along coasts.