The Dunlin (Calidris alpina) is the most numerous of the small waders seen in the dense, wheeling flocks that move along Swedish shorelines during migration. In breeding plumage it shows rust-brown, mottled upperparts, a finely streaked neck and a large black belly patch that is diagnostic among small waders; in winter it becomes a plain greyish-brown above and white below. The bill is medium length and slightly downcurved at the tip, the legs dark. Measuring 16-22 cm with a wingspan of 33-40 cm, it weighs only 40-60 g.
The flight call is a sharp, somewhat rasping "treerp" or "krriep", often heard from passing flocks, while the display flight on the breeding grounds produces a longer, buzzing trill. Dunlins breed in the mountains of northern Sweden and, very sparsely, on southern coastal meadows, where the threatened southern subspecies schinzii now survives in only small numbers; the Swedish breeding population totals just a few hundred to around a thousand pairs. During migration, however, vastly larger numbers of northern-breeding birds pass through, making the Dunlin one of the commonest waders at the coast, with peak passage in April-May and again July-October. The nest is a shallow scrape, often on a tussock on damp heath or coastal meadow, lined with grass and holding four eggs incubated by both parents for about three weeks; the precocial chicks feed themselves but are led by the parents, and the female often departs early, leaving the male to see the brood through. Diet is mainly invertebrates, worms, crustaceans and insects, taken by rapid pecking and probing in soft mud and wet sand along the shoreline.
Read about this species in Swedish →