On singing American Dippers

[teuton]

Interesting to read Jeff's report about dippers singing on the Big Thompson river.

Later this afternoon, as we were returning to the parking lot at South Platte park, we watched the American Dipper that frequents the river under the C470 bridge.  After watching it pick at insects and an old Starbucks cup wrapper, the dipper started spontaneously singing it's beautiful song, which raised our curiosity.  According to David Sibley's Guide to Bird Life and Behavior, both sexes of Dippers sing all year long, with a peak early in breeding season. Song establishes breeding territories in the spring, and winter territories in the fall and winter.  Fun to know!

Cheryl Teuton 

Aurora 

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[dgulb...@gmail.com]

Went to Morrison today to see if I could find a singing dipper.  (Hwy 74 is closed, so I couldn't go up to Lair o'the Bear).

Found a dipper at the entrance to Morrison Park (right by the gauging structure).  He did a fair amount of "zeet"s and

once uttered the start of a song.  I was able to watch him for a very long time, since he hardly budged from the site.

He seemed extremely successful at finding food, since he brought up tiny black things every time he dived.  Even

though I was only 12' away with 8x42's, I couldn't tell if it was animal or vegetable, but I assume the former.  I finally 

walked on, and when I came back an hour later he was still at the same spot.  Possibly the way the ice was formed it

served as a trap for food being washed downstream?

[Brian Roy]

Thanks for the tip. I went twice since your message and got three lifers at this exact spot in Morrison. I had never seen a dipper and was intrigued by what the call sounded like. I went to that spot, but no bird, and then I met a woman and a child who told me the dipper was there. The day before and they had seen it just upstream.  Unfortunately, the cute dipper wasn't there but I did get a picture of a Townsend's Solitare. I had never seen one before so good deal.

 I had to go back. I live only 10 minutes away. So I did and guess what? I found the dipper. I saw him getting his breakfast. Some black stuff. I assume animal, as you had thought. I say this because of how he smacked it on the water like a bee-eater or a kingfisher. I also captured a cute video of his whole song. I will post on youtube shortly and post a link back here. Here is a picture of him.

 

And that's not all. I got one more first as I walked back to my Toyota. Soaring above in a wide circle was this beautiful Golden Eagle.

Thanks for the tip that led to three firsts!

- Brian Roy 

Littleton, CO