enlarge + Dunlin, breeding © Rod Planck/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Sandpiper-like Birds

Dunlin  Calidris alpina

Family: Sandpipers, Scolopacidae

Audio: Martyn Stewart, © Naturesound.org

An estimated 41% of the species' North American population breeds within the Boreal Forest.

Description  8 1/2" (22 cm). A starling-sized shorebird. Bill fairly long, with distinct droop at tip. Breeding adults have reddish back, whitish underparts, with black patch in center of belly. Winter birds are dull gray, paler below.

Habitat  Nests on tundra; winters on beaches, mudflats, sand flats, and inland lake and river shores.

Nesting  4 olive eggs, blotched with brown, in a grass clump on a dry hummock on the open tundra.

Voice  A soft cheerp or chit-lit.

Range  Breeds from western and northern Alaska east to Hudson Bay. Winters along coasts from southern Alaska and Massachusetts southward. Also in Eurasia.

Discussion  These handsome birds, formerly known as "Red-backed Sandpipers," are very tame and thus easy to approach and study. They are among the hardiest of shorebirds. Thousands sometimes spend the winter months on sandbars or inlets along the coast as far north as southeastern Alaska and southern New England, where they feed on mollusks, crustaceans, and marine worms.