{"id":5912,"date":"2012-08-16T03:55:08","date_gmt":"2012-08-16T09:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=5912"},"modified":"2025-08-18T06:11:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T11:11:18","slug":"dunlins-in-breeding-and-nonbreeding-plumage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/16\/dunlins-in-breeding-and-nonbreeding-plumage\/","title":{"rendered":"Dunlins In Breeding And Nonbreeding Plumage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DunlinDunlin in nonbreeding plumage – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 200, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a Dunlin (Calidris alpina)<\/em> in nonbreeding plumage, the image was taken at Fort De Soto’s north beach in Florida<\/span><\/a> during the month of December a few years ago. During the winter Dunlins have dull gray-brown backs and heads with light-colored streaked breasts. These hardy shorebirds winter along coastlines from southern Alaska south to Florida and Mexico.<\/p>\n

\"DunlinDunlin in breeding plumage – Nikon D200, handheld, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 160, Nikkor 70-300mm VR at 300mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This image shows a Dunlin in breeding plumage also taken at Fort De Soto’s north beach in May a few years ago about the time this shorebird would start its migration to Arctic and sub-Arctic areas of Alaska where it breeds on the tundra near ponds.<\/p>\n

Dunlins exhibit\u00a0a vast difference between nonbreeding and breeding plumage, so different that a novice birder might mistakenly believe that they were two different species. It is always handy to have images of Dunlins<\/span><\/a> in breeding and nonbreeding plumage for comparison.<\/p>\n

This small shorebird’s lifespan can be up to 24 years!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Dunlin photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dunlins exhibit a vast difference between nonbreeding and breeding plumage, so different that a novice birder might mistakenly believe that they were two different species. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[232,25,704,2000],"tags":[4004,4053,999,5229,5132,396,173,3997,4273,4246,4019,992,4891,274,4188,3996,373],"class_list":["post-5912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dunlins","category-florida","category-fort-de-soto-county-park","category-pinellas-county-florida","tag-adult","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-calidris-alpina","tag-coast","tag-coastal","tag-dunlin","tag-gulf-coast","tag-lagoon","tag-mudflats","tag-nonbreeding-plumage","tag-preening-2","tag-sandpipers","tag-shore","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-shoreline","tag-water","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-breeding-plumage-mia-mcpherson-1203.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1xm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14920,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/05\/09\/dunlins\/","url_meta":{"origin":5912,"position":0},"title":"Dunlins","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Dunlins are small shorebirds that are found in North America which exhibit remarkable differences between their breeding and nonbreeding plumages.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dunlin on tidal flat, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-mia-mcpherson-nonbreeding-plumage-7903.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-mia-mcpherson-nonbreeding-plumage-7903.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-mia-mcpherson-nonbreeding-plumage-7903.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This Dunlin was just about finished molting into its breeding plumage and would have soon been on its way to the Arctic and sub-Arctic tundra to breed and raise its young.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dunlin running along the shore of the Gulf, Honeymoon Island State Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-honeymoon-island-mia-mcpherson-6741.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-honeymoon-island-mia-mcpherson-6741.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-honeymoon-island-mia-mcpherson-6741.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a simple image of a bathing Dunlin from May of 2009 taken at Fort De Soto County Park that brings back wonderful memories for me.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bathing Dunlin, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-bathing-mia-mcpherson-1168.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-bathing-mia-mcpherson-1168.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dunlin-bathing-mia-mcpherson-1168.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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The only other turnstone that frequents North America is the Black Turnstone and it occurs on the Pacific coast.","rel":"","context":"In "Bird ID"","block_context":{"text":"Bird ID","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/bird-identification\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage, Fort De Soto County Park, Pinellas County, Florida","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-mia-mcpherson-fort-de-soto-male-breeding-6188.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-mia-mcpherson-fort-de-soto-male-breeding-6188.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-mia-mcpherson-fort-de-soto-male-breeding-6188.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ruddy-turnstone-mia-mcpherson-fort-de-soto-male-breeding-6188.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}