The American dipper (''Cinclus mexicanus''), also known as a water ouzel, is a stocky dark grey bird with a head sometimes tinged with brown, and white feathers on the eyelids that cause the eyes to flash white as the bird blinks. It is long, has a wingspan of , and weighs on average . It has long legs, and bobs its whole body up and down during pauses as it feeds on the bottom of fast-moving, rocky streams. It inhabits the mountainous regions of

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. C ...

and western North America from Panama to Alaska.

Taxonomy

The American dipper was described by the English zoologist

William John Swainson William John Swainson FLS, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swainson was born in Dover Place, St Mary Newington, London, the eldest son of ...

in 1827 and given the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Cinclus mexicanus''. The type locality is Temascaltepec de González in Mexico. There are five subspecies: * ''C. m. unicolor'' Bonaparte, 1827 – Alaska, west Canada and west USA * ''C. m. mexicanus'' Swainson, 1827 – north and central Mexico * ''C. m. anthonyi'' Griscom, 1930 – southeast Mexico, southwest Guatemala, east Honduras and northwest Nicaragua * ''C. m. dickermani'' Phillips, AR, 1966 – south Mexico * ''C. m. ardesiacus'' Salvin, 1867 – Costa Rica and west Panama

Description

This species, like other dippers, is equipped with an extra eyelid called a

nictitating membrane The nictitating membrane (from Latin '' nictare'', to blink) is a transparent or translucent third eyelid present in some animals that can be drawn across the eye from the medial canthus to protect and moisten it while maintaining vision. All A ...

that allows it to see underwater, and scales that close its nostrils when submerged. Dippers also produce more oil than most birds, which may help keep them warmer when seeking food underwater. The song consists of high whistles or trills ' repeated a few times. Both sexes of this bird sing year round.

Distribution and habitat

The American dipper is usually a permanent

resident Resident may refer to: People and functions * Resident minister, a representative of a government in a foreign country * Resident (medicine), a stage of postgraduate medical training * Resident (pharmacy), a stage of postgraduate pharmaceutic ...

, moving slightly south or to lower elevations if necessary to find food or unfrozen water. The presence of this indicator species shows good water quality; it has vanished from some locations due to pollution or increased silt load in streams.

Behaviour

The American dipper defends a linear territory along streams. In most of its habits, it closely resembles its European counterpart, the

white-throated dipper The white-throated dipper (''Cinclus cinclus''), also known as the European dipper or just dipper, is an aquatic passerine bird found in Europe, Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. The species is divided into several subspecies ...

, ''Cinclus cinclus'', which is also sometimes known as a Water Ouzel.

Breeding

The American dipper's nest is a globe-shaped structure with a side entrance, close to water, on a rock ledge, river bank, behind a waterfall or under a bridge. The normal clutch is 2–4 white eggs, incubated solely by the female, which hatch after about 15–17 days, with another 20–25 days to fledging. The male helps to feed the young. The maximum recorded age from ring-recovery data of an American dipper is 8 years and 1 month for a bird ringed and recovered in South Dakota.

Feeding

It feeds on aquatic insects and their larvae, including

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...

nymphs, small crayfish, and

caddisfly The caddisflies, or order Trichoptera, are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the b ...

larvae. It may also take tiny fish or tadpoles. Its habit of diving underwater in search of food can infrequently make it the prey of large salmonids like

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not Neutering, castrated) adult male of the species ''Cattle, Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., Cattle, cows), bulls have long been an important symbol i ...

Dolly Varden trout The Dolly Varden trout (''Salvelinus malma'') is a species of salmonid fish native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. It belongs to the genus '' Salvelinus'', or true chars, which includes 51 recognized spe ...

History

The American dipper, previously known as the Water-Ouzel, was the favorite bird of famous naturalist

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...

. He dedicated an entire chapter in his book 'The Mountains of California' to the Ouzel stating "He is the mountain streams' own darling, the humming-bird of blooming waters, loving rocky ripple-slopes and sheets of foam as a bee loves flowers, as a lark loves sunshine and meadows. Among all the mountain birds, none has cheered me so much in my lonely wanderings, —none so unfailingly. For both in winter and summer he sings, sweetly, cheerily, independent alike of sunshine and of love, requiring no other inspiration than the stream on which he dwells. While water sings, so must he, in heat or cold, calm or storm, ever attuning his voice in sure accord; low in the drought of summer and the drought of winter, but never silent."

Gallery

File:Cinclus mexicanus - Nason Creek, Washington, USA -juvenile-8.jpg, Juvenile in Nason Creek, Washington, USA File:CinclusArdesiacusWolf.jpg, Subspecies ''C. m. ardesiacus'', lithograph by

Joseph Wolf Joseph Wolf (22 January 1820 – 20 April 1899) was a German artist who specialized in natural history illustration. He moved to the British Museum in 1848 and became the preferred illustrator for explorers and naturalists including David Livi ...

, 1867 File:Cinclus mexicanus Zion.webm, Foraging in a stream

References

* Erlich et al. ''The Birder's Handbook'' * Stiles and Skutch, ''A guide to the birds of Costa Rica''

External links

American Dipper - ''Cinclus mexicanus''
- USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter

- Cornell Lab of Ornithology

for United States
The Dipper - Plain, yes, but not so ordinary
VIREO *Short radio episode ttps://web.archive.org/web/20040523194932/http://californialegacy.org/radio_anthology/scripts/muir.html ''The Water-Ouzel'' from ''The Mountains of California'', by John Muir 1894.

California Legacy Project California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

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The American Dipper and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance
{{Taxonbar, from=Q912010

American dipper The American dipper (''Cinclus mexicanus''), also known as a water ouzel, is a stocky dark grey bird with a head sometimes tinged with brown, and white feathers on the eyelids that cause the eyes to flash white as the bird blinks. It is long, ha ...

Native birds of Alaska Birds of the Aleutian Islands Native birds of Western Canada Native birds of the Northwestern United States Native birds of the Western United States Native birds of the West Coast of the United States Birds of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Birds of Mexico Birds of Central America

Articles containing video clips Taxa named by William John Swainson Birds of the Sierra Madre Occidental