Bird name:

Dunlin

Calidris alpina

Order

CHARADRIIFORMES

Family

Sandpipers (Scolopacidae)

Code 4

DUNL

Code 6

CALALP

ITIS

176661

Breeding Location:

Seashore, rocky or sandy, Marshes, freshwater, Swamps, Grasslands

Breeding Type:

Monogamous

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

Olive, blue green or buff with brown or gray marks

Number of Eggs:

Incubation Days:

20 - 23

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

Leaves and grasses.

Migration:

Migratory

RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS

General

Dunlin: Medium-sized sandpiper with black-streaked, red-brown upperparts, conspicuous black belly patch, and streaked breast. Bill is long and slightly decurved. Sexes are similar. Winter adult has plain gray upperparts, faintly spotted gray breast and white underparts. Juvenile is browner with a scaled appearance.

Range and Habitat

Dunlin: Breeds from western and northern Alaska east to Hudson Bay. Spends winters along coasts from southern Alaska and Massachusetts southward; also in Eurasia. Nests on tundra and winters on beaches, mudflats, sand flats, inland lakes, and river shores.

Breeding and Nesting

Dunlin: Four olive, blue green or buff eggs marked with brown and gray are laid in a grass clump on a dry hummock on the open tundra. Incubation ranges from 20 to 23 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Dunlin: Diet consists of insects, marine worms, small crustaceans, snails, and small fish. Wades in shallows and uses its bill to probe and pick up food; probes with a rapid up and down stitching motion.

Vocalization

Dunlin: Song is a soft "cheerp" or "chit-lit."

Similar Species

Dunlin: Rock Sandpiper has less black on belly and has yellow legs. Purple Sandpiper is darker gray above and has yellow legs.

Percevia^® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The Percevia field guides, database and search protocol patent pending.

The best bird guide and bird watching search engine to identify birds!

Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America