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  1. Species
  2. ›
  3. Scolopacidae
  4. ›
  5. Calidris
  6. ›
  7. Dunlin
Dunlin
Photo · Hobbyfotowiki Camera location64° 09′ 19.79″ N, 22° 01′ 07.84″ W View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap 64.155498; -22.018844

BirdUp · Species

Dunlin

Calidris alpina(Linnaeus, 1758)

Updated 21 March 2026

Origin: Native
Order
CHARADRIIFORMES
Family
Scolopacidae
Genus
Calidris

At a glance

The Dunlin, native to Australia.

Origin
Native
  • Identification
  • Where

01 · Identification

How to tell it apart

The dunlin 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.

Description · wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

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02 · Where

Where to find it

Where does the Dunlin live in Australia?

The Dunlin is native to Australia.

BreedingNA, PAL : low (locally high) Arctic to temperate wet tundra of Holarctic: south-west to north-east Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Is., north British Isles, Scandinavia, Baltic states east through north Russia including Novaya Zemlya (north of north-west Siberia) and New Siberian Is. (north of east-central Russia), through Chukotskiy Pen., west Kamchatka, north Kurile and north Sakhalin is. (east Russia); Aleutian Is., west and north Alaska, north-west Canada, north-central Canada north and west of Hudson Bay

Non-breedingSouth NA, AF, south PAL : coastal and inland wetlands from temperate to tropical zones north of Equator: British Isles, west Europe, Mediterranean, north and north-central Africa, Middle East and north Indian subcontinent to north Vietnam and east China, Taiwan, Korean Pen. and Japan (except north); south-west Canada and New England to west-central Mexico and Yucatan Pen.

Distribution from BirdUp Australia community data

Legend

  • Vagrant

6 regions recorded