Description: The length of the wing is 11-12.5 cm, with the weight of 44-57 gr. The bill is fairly long, fine, curving down a bit. The back side of the bird is black red-brown with rather broad rusty rufous terminal bars on the wings. The throat and crop present smallish streaks, the chest and the front part of the belly are black red-brown (hence the Russian name black-cropped), the remainder of the belly is white. In the winter, the birds are uniformly smoky from top, and white from below with a smoky tinge on the crop. The juveniles in the autumn have their bellies covered with round dark spots.
Habitat: Dunlins are widespread in tundra, and well-known along the migratory routes (in particular, the autumnal one) in the Russian midlands. For nesting, dunlins occupy hillocky, grassy, and very wet spots, settling in sphagnous moors, on grassy and mossy swamp islets, always close to shallow lakes and pools.
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