| Dunlin | |
|---|---|
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| Calidris alpina alpina in breeding plumage on autumn migration in Latvia | |
| Display song recorded in Cardiganshire, Wales | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Scolopacidae |
| Genus: | Calidris |
| Species: | C. alpina
|
| Binomial name | |
| Calidris alpina | |
| |
| Range of C. alpina Breeding migrant Breeding resident Non-breeding Passage Vagrant (seasonality uncertain)
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| Synonyms | |
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The dunlin (Calidris alpina) is a small wader in the genus Calidris. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from dun, "dull brown", with the suffix -ling, meaning a person or thing with the given quality.[2]
It is a circumpolar breeder in Arctic or subarctic regions. Birds that breed in western Europe are short-distance migrants largely staying on western and southern European and northwest African coasts; those breeding in far northern Europe and Asia are long-distance migrants, wintering south to Africa, southeast Asia and the Middle East. Birds that breed in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic migrate short distances to the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America, although those nesting in northern Alaska overwinter in Asia.
- ^ BirdLife International (2024) [amended version of 2024 assessment]. "Calidris alpina". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2024: e.T22693427A255846610. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-2.RLTS.T22693427A255846610.en. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
- ^ "Dunlin". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)