Home/Species/ Dunlin

Calidris alpina

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Dunlin

G5Secure Found in 22 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →

G5SecureGlobal Rank

Near threatenedIUCN

Identity

Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101733

Element CodeABNNF11170

Record TypeSPECIES

ClassificationSpecies

Classification StatusStandard

Name CategoryVertebrate Animal

IUCNNear threatened

Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

KingdomAnimalia

PhylumCraniata

ClassAves

OrderCharadriiformes

FamilyScolopacidae

GenusCalidris

Other Common Names

Bécasseau variable (FR) dunlin (EN) Playero de Lomo Rojo (ES)

Concept Reference

American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.

Taxonomic Comments

See Browning (1991) for taxonomic information on dunlins from northern Alaska and eastern Siberia. Wenink et al. (1996) examined mtDNA variation among 15 breeding populations throughout the circumpolar range and found five major phylogeographic groups, each corresponding to a morphometrically defined subspecies, but other recognized subspecies were not supported by monophyletic mtDNA lineages within their purported ranges.

Conservation Status

Rank MethodExpertise without calculation

Review Date2016-04-07

Change Date1996-11-26

Edition Date2014-09-02

Edition AuthorsJue, Dean K.

Range Extent>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

Number of Occurrences> 300

Rank Reasons

One of the largest population sizes of any shorebird globally

Range Extent Comments

BREEDS: northern Alaska, northern Mackenzie, northeastern Keewatin, and southern Somerset Island south to coastal western Alaska, Southampton Island, northeastern Manitoba, and northern Ontario; eastern Greenland, Iceland, Sptizbergen, Novaya Zemlya, arctic coast of Siberia, Kamchatka Peninsula, and Sakhalin Island south to British Isles, Baltic region, northern Russia, and northern China (AOU 1983, Browning 1991). WINTERS: along Pacific coast from southeastern Alaska south to Baja California and Sonora, on Atlantic-Gulf-Caribbean coast from Massachusetts south to Florida, west to Texas, south to Yucatan Peninsula; in Old World from southern Europe and southern Asia to Cape Verde Islands, northern Afria, Arabia, Indian coast, and Formosa (AOU 1983); occasionally in Hawaii. Nonbreeders often summer in winter range. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, is an important migration stop in western North America (Handel and Gill 1992). See Browning (1991) for information on the distribution of subspecies in northern Alaska and eastern Siberia.

Occurrences Comments

With a fully circumpolar distribution and an estimated global population size of 4.6 to 6.5 million birds (Birdlife International, 2014) ,there should be at least 300 element occurrences

Threat Impact Comments

Climate change may affect this species at its typical breeding localities at northern latitudes. Loss of habitat at wintering grounds may also be severe, with some findings as high as 30 - 91% reduction (Warnock and gill, 1996).

Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

Nonbreeding: mudflats, estuaries, marshes, flooded fields, sandy or gravelly beaches, and shores of lakes, ponds, and sloughs (AOU 1983, Smith and Connors 1993). In central California, movements from coastal habitats to inland habitats occurred in conjunction with winter storms (heavy rain) (Warnock et al. 1995). On the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, major diurnal roost sites were adjacent to intertidal feeding areas, provided a unobstructed view of predators, and were close to shallow waters used for bathing (Handel and Gill 1992). Nests in wet coastal tundra (AOU 1983), grass or sedge tundra with pools and bogs. Nests on the ground, usually in drier sites such as strangmoor ridges.

Ecology

Nonbreeding: often in large flocks, which in some roosting areas may include 10,000s (Handel and Gill 1992). Often seen in association with sanderlings and other shorebirds.

Reproduction

Breeding begins late May to early June in the Western Hemisphere (clutches completed mainly mid-June in Beaufort Sea area). Both sexes, in turn, incubate 4 eggs for 21-22 days. Nestlings are precocial and downy. Young are independent in about 25 days (Harrison 1978). Often nests near other pairs of dunlins. In northern Alaska, up to 15 nests per sq km have been recorded in several areas of coastal tundra and sites a few miles inland.

Terrestrial Habitats

TundraSand/dune

Palustrine Habitats

TEMPORARY POOLBog/fenRiparian

Other Nations (2)

CanadaN4B,N4N,N5M

Province	Rank	Native
Northwest Territories	S3	Yes
Nova Scotia	S4M	Yes
Nunavut	S4B	Yes
Saskatchewan	S5M	Yes
Quebec	S3B	Yes
Yukon Territory	S2M	Yes
Manitoba	S3B	Yes
Labrador	S3M	Yes
Prince Edward Island	S4M	Yes
Alberta	S4M	Yes
New Brunswick	S4M	Yes
British Columbia	S4N	Yes
Ontario	S4B,S5M	Yes
Island of Newfoundland	S4M	Yes

United StatesN5B,N5N

Province	Rank	Native
Mississippi	S4N	Yes
Virginia	SNRN	Yes
Rhode Island	SNA	Yes
Maryland	S3N	Yes
South Dakota	SNA	Yes
Delaware	S3N	Yes
Louisiana	S5N	Yes
Florida	S4N	Yes
South Carolina	S4N	Yes
Texas	S4	Yes
North Carolina	S5N	Yes
North Dakota	SNA	Yes
West Virginia	SNA	Yes
Kentucky	SNA	Yes
Utah	SNA	Yes
Montana	SNA	Yes
Illinois	SNA	Yes
New Hampshire	SNA	Yes
Colorado	SNA	Yes
Navajo Nation	S2M	Yes
Arizona	S2N	Yes
Pennsylvania	SNA	Yes
Kansas	S2N	Yes
Nebraska	SNRN	Yes
Wyoming	S4N	Yes
California	SNRN	Yes
Michigan	SNRN	Yes
Vermont	SNA	Yes
Hawaii	SNA	Yes
Indiana	SNA	Yes
New York	SNRN	Yes
Georgia	S5	Yes
District of Columbia	S1N	Yes
Massachusetts	S5N	Yes
Washington	S4N	Yes
Ohio	SNA	Yes
Iowa	S3N	Yes
Wisconsin	S4N	Yes
Maine	S3N	Yes
Arkansas	S3M	Yes
Nevada	S4N	Yes
Oregon	S5N	Yes
Minnesota	SNRM	Yes
Alaska	S4B,S4N	Yes
Alabama	S5N	Yes
New Jersey	S4N	Yes
Connecticut	SNA	Yes
Tennessee	S3N	Yes
Oklahoma	S2N	Yes
Missouri	SNA	Yes
New Mexico	S4N	Yes
Idaho	S1M	Yes

Threat Assessments

Threat	Scope	Severity	Timing
2 - Agriculture & aquaculture	Large - small	Moderate or 11-30% pop. decline	Moderate (short-term)
2.2 - Wood & pulp plantations	Large - small	Moderate or 11-30% pop. decline	Moderate (short-term)
5 - Biological resource use	Large - small	Moderate or 11-30% pop. decline	High (continuing)
5.2 - Gathering terrestrial plants	Large - small	Moderate or 11-30% pop. decline	High (continuing)
6 - Human intrusions & disturbance	Pervasive - large	Slight or 1-10% pop. decline	High (continuing)
6.1 - Recreational activities	Pervasive - large	Slight or 1-10% pop. decline	High (continuing)
6.2 - War, civil unrest & military exercises	Large - small	Slight or 1-10% pop. decline	High (continuing)
7 - Natural system modifications	Large - small	Moderate or 11-30% pop. decline	High (continuing)
7.2 - Dams & water management/use	Large - small	Moderate or 11-30% pop. decline	Moderate (short-term)
7.3 - Other ecosystem modifications	Large - small	Slight or 1-10% pop. decline	High (continuing)
8 - Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases	Pervasive - large	Moderate or 11-30% pop. decline	Moderate (short-term)
8.1 - Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases	Pervasive - large	Moderate or 11-30% pop. decline	Moderate (short-term)
9 - Pollution	Large - small	Moderate or 11-30% pop. decline	Moderate (short-term)
9.2 - Industrial & military effluents	Large - small	Moderate or 11-30% pop. decline	Moderate (short-term)
11 - Climate change & severe weather	Pervasive (71-100%)	Unknown	Low (long-term)
11.1 - Habitat shifting & alteration	Pervasive (71-100%)	Unknown	Low (long-term)

Roadless Areas (22)

Alaska (15)

Area	Forest	Acres
Bering Lake	Chugach National Forest	965,076
Chilkat-West Lynn Canal	Tongass National Forest	199,772
Chugach-12	Chugach National Forest	8,116
Chugach-13	Chugach National Forest	13,337
Copper River Wetlands	Chugach National Forest	85,972
Fidalgo-Gravina	Chugach National Forest	257,968
Middle Kruzof	Tongass National Forest	14,724
North Baranof	Tongass National Forest	314,089
North Kruzof	Tongass National Forest	33,146
Port Alexander	Tongass National Forest	120,681
Redoubt	Tongass National Forest	68,347
Sheridan Glacier	Chugach National Forest	224,683
Sitka Urban	Tongass National Forest	112,003
South Kruzof	Tongass National Forest	55,193
Upper Situk	Tongass National Forest	16,789

California (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Woolstaff	Sequoia National Forest	41,445

Montana (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Freezeout Mountain	Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest	97,305

Oregon (3)

Area	Forest	Acres
Tahkenitch	Siuslaw National Forest	5,799
Tenmile	Siuslaw National Forest	10,818
Woahink	Siuslaw National Forest	5,309

Utah (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Wellsville	Wasatch-Cache National Forest	1,717

Virginia (1)

Area	Forest	Acres
Bear Creek	Jefferson National Forest	18,274

References (39)

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Calidris alpina

Habitat

Ecology

Reproduction

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