Dunlin

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About Dunlin:

It is a small shorebird with a droopy bill and is a fully migratory circumpolar breeder.
Appearance:
- Dunlins are a medium-sized sandpiper with a slightly down-curved black bill.
- Unique feature: During the summer breeding season, they have a large black belly spot and orange feathers on their back and in winter and nonbreeding season, they are all white with a gray back and head.
A group of Dunlin is known as a “flight,” “fling,” or “trip.”
Habitat: During the breeding season, they live in coastal tundra areas. In the winter, they live along mudflats, estuaries, marshes and coastlines.
They spend the summer breeding season in the arctic and subarctic regions, and winter along both coasts of the United States and Mexico.
Diet: Insects form the main part of the Dunlin’s diet on the nesting grounds; they eat mollusks, worms, and crustaceans during the winter and on migration.
Conservation status
- IUCN: Near threatened
Threats: It is threatened by habitat loss caused by wetland draining, global warming, and invasive plants, particularly at migration staging and wintering areas.
It is also vulnerable to avian influenza.