Listen to the Dunlin
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
About the Dunlin
The Dunlin is a bird in the family Scolopacidae (order Charadriiformes). Its conservation status on the IUCN Red List is “near threatened”. Adults have a wingspan of about 36 cm.
What does the Dunlin sound like?
Most birds have two kinds of vocalisation: songs, which are learned or innate phrases delivered mainly in spring and summer, and calls – brief contact, alarm and begging notes heard all year round. Listening for both helps with identification.
The recordings here are labelled as call and song. Listen for differences in rhythm, pitch and repetition – the spectrum display makes it easy to see whether a sound is a pure whistle (a thin line), a harsh call (a broad band) or a trill (rapid repeated marks).
From Wikipedia
The dunlin (Calidris alpina) 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.
It is a circumpolar breeder in Arctic or subarctic regions. Birds that breed in western Europe are short-distance migrants largely staying on western and southern European and northwest African coasts; those breeding in far northern Europe and Asia are long-distance migrants, wintering south to Africa, southeast and west Asia. Birds that breed in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic migrate short distances to the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America, although those nesting in northern Alaska overwinter in Asia.
Related birds in the genus Calidris
More from the family Scolopacidae
Frequently asked questions
What does a Dunlin sound like?
You can hear 3 recordings of the Dunlin on this page, including its call and song. Most birds have two kinds of vocalisation: songs, which are learned or innate phrases delivered mainly in spring and summer, and calls – brief contact, alarm and begging notes heard all year round.
Is the Dunlin endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Dunlin as “near threatened”.
What family does the Dunlin belong to?
The Dunlin (Calidris alpina) belongs to the family Scolopacidae in the order Charadriiformes.
Sources & credits
- Dunlin (Calidris alpina) (W CALIDRIS ALPINA R1 C13) – CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call, song · Churchill River Road (near Churchill), Manitoba, Canada by Doug Hynes – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call, song · "the Fen", near Churchill Northern Studies Centre… by Doug Hynes – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q26650 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Dunlin – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo by Mdf , edited by Fir0002 – CC BY-SA 3.0