The Dunlin (Southern) (Calidris alpina schinzii) is the southern subspecies of the widespread Dunlin, a small wader distinguished mainly by its breeding range on grazed coastal meadows around the southern Baltic and North Sea rather than by any easy field mark. In breeding plumage it shows rust-brown and black-spotted upperparts, a white underside, and a solid black belly patch, the most reliable feature among small waders, along with a black bill that is, on average, slightly shorter than that of the northern subspecies alpina. In winter it is plain greyish-brown above and white below, without the belly patch; in the field, subspecies are best told apart by where they are found rather than by plumage alone.
Its call is a characteristic buzzing, descending "trriii" or "krrüü", with a longer, trilling, nasal phrase given in display flight. This is one of Sweden's most threatened breeding birds, classed as Endangered with a population of well under a hundred pairs, following a dramatic decline through the 1900s driven above all by the disappearance of grazing animals, which has allowed the open coastal meadows the birds depend on to grow over; drainage and predation add further pressure. It breeds on grazed coastal meadows along the south and west coasts and on Öland and Gotland, with the nest well hidden in tussocky grass; the female lays four eggs, incubated by both parents for around three weeks, and the precocial chicks are led by their parents soon after hatching. Because the bill is somewhat shorter than the northern subspecies', birds forage mostly near the surface of the soft, damp meadow soil rather than probing deep, taking worms, insects, larvae, small crustaceans and molluscs. It is a summer visitor that winters on the coasts of north-west Africa, and Sweden treats it as a species of special conservation responsibility, with grazing restoration, water-level management and predator control under way at several sites.
Read about this species in Swedish →