Cinclus mexicanus
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
02/28/2015 Railroad Bridge Park, Sequim, WA
Video 1 - American Dipper in a seasonal tributary to the Elwha River near Madison Creek Falls. Note the white-feathered eyelid. Video in real time.
02/24/2016 Olympic Hot Springs Road, Madison Creek Falls Area, Olympic National Park, WA
Video 2 - A Dipper was holding a small fish in its beak. Another Dipper approached and the first Dipper flew off with the fish. Video in real time.
10/31/2021 Ennis Creek, Port Angeles, WA
North America's only aquatic songbird, the American Dipper lives and nests exclusively along rocky, clear, freshwater streams and river edges.
Dippers get their common name from their habit of bobbing up and down when perched.
Dippers feed on small animals that live in the stream or fly above the water: aquatic insects, insect larvae, insects that fly over the stream, fresh-water crustaceans, worms, small fish and fish eggs. Dippers poke their heads into the water to find prey organisms. When they spy food underwater, they dive and can move along the bottom gripping with their toes. They can swim underwater using their wings for propulsion. Dippers can move rocks on the stream bottom to reveal food.
Dippers don’t migrate, though they do fly downstream if their stream freezes over.
When the American Dipper blinks, its bright white eyelid (which is covered in tiny white feathers) stands out against the gray of the rest of its feathers. Bird expert David Sibley comments, “Because the eyelid is white, we notice every time a dipper blinks. They don’t blink a lot more than other birds, it’s just that most other birds have dark grayish eyelids without feathers, and blink more quickly, so their blinking is barely noticeable. The next question is… Why? Why do dippers have white eyelids and then make a big show of blinking slowly? Nobody knows.” https://www.sibleyguides.com/2013/04/the-white-eyelid-of-american-dipper/