Whimbrel breed in the subarctic moorlands and tundra in the northern hemisphere and migrate south in the winter to the coastlands of all continents around and south of the Equator. Birds that winter in Australia are of the sub-species N. p. variegatus which breeds in north-east Siberia.

There are photos of the nominate race on my European page and of the sub-species N. p. hudsonicus on my South American page.