Dunlin

Calidris alpina
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Description

Dunlins look like Western Sandpipers, but they have a black belly and white on the back of their heads. Their wings and back are various shades of warm brown and some black. Nonbreeding Dunlins don’t have their black belly, and they become brown and gray.

Habitat and Status

In fluctuating numbers, Dunlin can be found year-round in the Chugach Region but are most abundant during the winter. During the breeding season, Dunlin flock to subarctic and arctic tundra, nesting in wet coastal grasslands along small ridges, usually near marshes where they feed. Unlike many of the “peeps,” many Dunlin don’t migrate very far south, distances, wintering as far north as Prince William Sound. Audubon’s climate model forecasts expansion even farther north in winter—but with some corresponding loss on the wintering grounds in the southern U.S. In the summer, the situation appears precarious, as this high-latitude breeder may simply be squeezed out by a warming climate, with almost a complete loss by 2080 of its preferred habitats of wet coastal grasslands along the shores of the Arctic Ocean.

Dunlin distribution in the Chugach Region.

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