Art by Jackie Blurton
Nature Note by Dr. Roland Shook
The American Dipper is a bird of the fast-flowing mountain streams of the West. The name of this species is derived from its habit of perching near the water and constantly bobbing its whole body up and down. This bird is also known as the Water Ouzel, an English word for the European Blackbird.
Dippers are relatively large, stocky, slate-gray, wren-like birds with blackish wings, a horn-colored bill, and yellow legs. This species is marvelously adapted to feed onminvertebrates and fish found on or near the bottom of swift flowing waters. Dippers dive, swim, and walk underwater in search of prey. It winks continuously revealing the white nictitating membrane of the eye.
Dippers build a roofed nest of mosses behind a waterfall, on stream banks, bridges, or ledges. It is not unusual to see a Dipper fly into a waterfall and disappear only to remerge later. If this happens during the breeding season, one immediately suspects a nest is nearby.
Look for American Dippers on Whitewater Creek above the Catwalk. This is likely the closest Dipper habitat to Silver City.
