Like many small sandpipers in the genus Calidris, the Dunlin breeds at high latitudes. Unlike most of these sandpipers, though, many Dunlins don’t migrate great distances, with sizable numbers wintering as far north as New England and British Columbia. Audubon's climate model forecasts expansion even farther north in winter—but with some corresponding loss on the wintering grounds in the southern U.S. In the summer, the situation appears precarious, as this high-Arctic breeder may simply be squeezed out by climate change, with a complete shift of summer climate space and concurrent 94% decrease in area by 2080. There just may not be anywhere left for the Dunlin’s preferred habitat of wet coastal grasslands along the shores of the Arctic Ocean.
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