Dipper
Order: Passeriformes Family: Cinlidae Genus & Species: Cinlus cinlus
Living close to rushing waters, the dipper is an expert diver and can walk along the streambed as if it was on land.
| Habitat The dipper is adapted to a very specific type of habitat. It is restricted to clear fast flowing streams in mountainous and hilly areas. It usually inhabits clear, shallow streams with gravelly bottoms and rocky banks that lack vegetation, often choosing a spot where the torrent rushes down a ravine. As it needs to spend more time preening to repair the damage caused to its feathers by rough water, its preen gland is larger than any other birds in the order Passiformes. During winter, if the stream partially freezes, it may move to lower altitudes, to lakesides and rocky coastlines. |
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Behaviour It is a habit of the dipper to constantly bob up and down. It is not known for certain why it does this. One theory is that it is constantly adjusting its field of vision to help spot its prey, another is that it is signalling to other birds or keeping in contact with its mate. The male dipper remains territorial throughout the year and defends his section against all other males. Rivals face each other on adjacent rocks, while singining loudly and bobbing frantically. |
| What they eat Dippers have a wide range of feeding methods. They can pick insects from the rocks, chase crustaceans and small fish underwater, or locate snails worms and insect larvae while walking on the streambed. Its main prey are larvae of the cadis fly, but they do prey on a wide variety of insects and their larvae. Cadis fly larvae live in tubes made from grains of sand and plant material and hide under small stones on the streambed. The dipper snatches up a tube in its bill and squeezes out the larva, or breaks open the tube on a rock. |
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Breeding In early spring, the dipper selects a nest site near its home stretch of stream. This is usually a crevice in a vertical slab of rock, into which it wedges the nest. The nest is built from moss and is constructed by both the male and female. Chicks are fed by both parents in a carousel rota. Each chick retreats to the back of the nest after being fed, allowing the next to come forward to be fed. They leave the nest at around 22 days old and seek refuge in streamside vegetation. It takes them several weeks to master the water. |