The American dipper (''Cinclus mexicanus''), also known as a water ouzel, is a stocky dark grey

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

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. ...

and western North America from Panama to Alaska.

Taxonomy

The American dipper was described by the English zoologist William John Swainson in 1827 and given the binomial name ''Cinclus mexicanus''. The type locality is

Temascaltepec de González Temascaltepec de González (formally: Temascaltepec de González, for Plutarco González) is a city and seat of the municipality of Temascaltepec located in south of the State of Mexico in Mexico. It is southeast of Toluca and , from Mexico City ...

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 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 A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...

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 Permanent may refer to: Art and entertainment * ''Permanent'' (film), a 2017 American film * ''Permanent'' (Joy Division album) * "Permanent" (song), by David Cook Other uses * Permanent (mathematics), a concept in linear algebra * Permanent (cy ...

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 pharmaceuti ...

, 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 Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

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

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an 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 subspec ...

, ''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

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s and their larvae, including dragonfly 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 ...

larvae. It may also take tiny fish or

tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found ...

s. 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 castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

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 ...

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 ...

. 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 United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

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 state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

.
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, ...

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