Dunlin

How many Dunlin are in this photograph, taken on 1 January 2022 at the Nisqually national wildlife refuge? We estimated 400 birds in the whole flock, but twice that many may be feeding in the low tide. Dunlin have a similar range as Black-bellied Plovers, breeding in the Arctic and wintering in southern climes. Dunlin have an overall more northern winter distribution than do the plovers. Dunlin winter, in our part of the world, north to coastal Alaska. They are abundant down the Pacific Coast south to California and Mexico. Some even reach northern South America. Pacific coast populations are estimated to be a half a million birds (Warnock and Gill 2020).