dunlin

[duhn-lin]

noun

1. a common sandpiper, Calidris alpina, that breeds in the northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

dunlin

/ ˈdʌnlɪn /

noun

1. Also called: red-backed sandpiper. a small sandpiper, Calidris (or Erolia ) alpina, of northern and arctic regions, having a brown back and black breast in summer

Word History and Origins

Origin of dunlin¹

1525–35; variant of dunling. See dun ², -ling ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of dunlin¹

C16: _dun ² + _-ling ¹

Example Sentences

Four UK shorebirds - the grey plover, dunlin, turnstone and curlew sandpiper - are becoming more endangered on the red list.

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In spring, two dozen species of shorebirds use the refuge as a way station — primarily Western sandpipers and dunlin.

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Reynolds said he will always remember the call he got that first year from a biologist reporting on a flooded field filled with 5,000 small wading birds called dunlin.

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I’m gaping at thousands of western sandpipers and dunlins twisting and turning against the sky creating an undulating kaleidoscope of color.

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A cloud of tiny dunlin, more compact than starlings, turned in the air with the noise of a train.

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