DUNLIN or OXBIRD (Tringa alpine), one of the commonest of the sandpipers (q.v.) . It breeds on elevated moors in Europe, N. Asia and N. America and in winter haunts the mud flats and sand banks in large flocks. A smaller species, T. schinzi, occurs in parts of Europe. In the breeding season, the male utters a peculiar whistle.
A subspecies of the dunlin, the red-backed sandpiper (Tringa, or Pelidna, alpine sakhalina), is abundant on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America.