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