National Park Service Klamath Network Featured Creature U.S. Department of the Interior

Natural Resource Stewardship & Science Klamath Network June 2018 Cinclus mexicanus Field Notes less than 15 m wide and less than 2 m deep, ability to focus. Scales shut over its nostrils though in the winter, they may use larger, when submerged. Finally, an unusually high General Description slower-moving bodies of water. Boulders, level of in the boosts fallen trees, and driftwood provide cover storage while underwater. and escape from predators. Dippers often build their nests on cliffs and under bridges Life Cycle or large, overhanging rocks, out of reach of Dippers breed annually, beginning at 1 year. predators and floodwaters. In early spring, the male s loud, varied song of trills and repeated notes attracts a mate Dippers tend to remain on their breeding to its linear, stream course territory. Mate grounds year-round, thanks to some special fidelity from year to year is common, and adaptations for enduring the cold. Dense males will sometimes pair with a second

body feathering, downy at its base, keeps female (polygyny) in the same summer. them well insulated. Even their eyelids are Both adults help build a dome-shaped nest Skye Schelz insulated by feathers that flash white when American dipper. Note short tail, large feet, they blink. A large preen (uropygial) gland of , grass, and leaves. Typically and white-feathered eyelid. produces oily wax for waterproofing their attached to a cliff, overhanging dirt bank, or feathers. Lastly, their unusually low under a log or bridge, the nest has a small, metabolic rate helps them maintain normal round side opening facing the water. anywhere upon a clear stream, and there body temperature in very cold conditions. you will surely find its complementary The female lays 4 5 oval, white, glossy eggs Ouzel, flitting about in the spray, diving in Behavior and Feeding and incubates them while the male brings food. Eggs hatch in 14 17 days, and the foaming eddies, whirling like a leaf among True to their name, dippers bob their entire young fledge at 25 days. Dippers may beaten foam-bells; ever vigorous and bodies up and down frequently, especially produce two broods in a season, typically at conservationist, John when aroused. This behavior may offer an lower elevations or southerly latitudes. Muir, - alternative to vocal communication in the high Sierra Nevada streams. noisy, stream environment. It may also Conservation enhance vision into the water. The American dipper (family Cinclidae), is a While dipper populations appear stable, chunky, gray, sparrow-sized with a most remarkable trick is the disturbances to stream ecosystems, like brownish head and short tail. While its drab way it forages by swimming, diving, or siltation from roads and timber harvest, color is unremarkable, its habits are not. walking underwater along the stream water diversions, or toxic mining runoff can The dipper is bottom! It stays underwater typically for 5 impact dipper prey and nesting . aquatic . 15 seconds, foraging for aquatic insects Where to See under pebbles and leafy or woody debris. Range and Habitat Small fish, fish eggs, beetles, and flying American dippers breed in all Klamath Cinclus mexicanus unicolor is the insects are also sometimes prey. Network parks except Lava Beds NM. northernmost of five subspecies in North More Information America. This subspecies ranges throughout How does a dipper accomplish this the western United States and Canada, from underwater feat? Its short, strong wings https://birdsna.org/Species- Alaska down to southern New Mexico and help it swim/paddle across the top of the Account/bna/species/amedip/introduction inland to eastern Wyoming and Colorado. water and move underwater. Its long legs Video of underwater foraging: and sharp (but not webbed) claws firmly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV6IDY Relatively unpolluted, fast-flowing grip the stream bottom. Underwater, a 1TSC0 mountain, coastal, and desert streams with transparent, third eyelid (nictitating cascades and riffles provide ideal food and membrane) helps it to see, and enlarged Song of the dipper: nesting conditions. Dippers prefer streams sphincter muscles in its eyes enhance its https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/8992/play

EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICATM Pre pared by Sonya Daw June 28, 2018