American dipper
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The American dipper (Cinclus mexicanus), also known as a water ouzel, is a semiaquatic bird species native to western North America.
DescriptionEdit
It is a stocky 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is Template:Cvt long, has a wingspan of Template:Convert,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and weighs on average Template:Cvt.
TaxonomyEdit
The American dipper was described by the English zoologist William Swainson in 1827 based on a specimen that had been collected in Mexico by the English naturalist William Bullock. Swainson placed the new species with the dippers in the genus Cinclus and coined the current binomial name Cinclus mexicanus.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The type locality is Temascaltepec de González in Mexico.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
There are five subspecies:<ref name=ioc>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- 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. ardesiacus Salvin, 1867 – Costa Rica and west Panama
- C. m. dickermani Phillips, AR, 1966 – south Mexico
- C. m. unicolor Bonaparte, 1827 – Alaska, west Canada and west USA
Distribution and habitatEdit
The American dipper inhabits the mountainous regions of Central America and western North America from Panama to Alaska. It is usually a permanent resident, 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 and ecologyEdit
The American dipper defends a linear territory along streams. In most of its habits, it closely resembles its European counterpart, the white-throated dipper (Cinclus cinclus), which is also sometimes known as a water ouzel.
BreedingEdit
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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
FeedingEdit
It feeds on aquatic insects and their larvae, including dragonfly nymphs, small crayfish, and caddisfly larvae. It may also take tiny fish or tadpoles.
PredatorsEdit
Dippers may occasionally be preyed on by predatory fish such as by brook trout, bull or Dolly Varden trout.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
HistoryEdit
The American dipper, previously known as the water-ouzel, was the favorite bird of famous naturalist John Muir. 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."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
GalleryEdit
- Cinclus mexicanus - Nason Creek, Washington, USA -juvenile-8.jpg
Juvenile in Nason Creek, Washington, USA
- CinclusArdesiacusWolf.jpg
Subspecies C. m. ardesiacus, lithograph by Joseph Wolf, 1867
- Cinclus mexicanus Zion.webm
Foraging in a stream
ReferencesEdit
- Erlich et al. The Birder's Handbook
- Stiles and Skutch, A guide to the birds of Costa Rica Template:ISBN
External linksEdit
- American Dipper - Cinclus mexicanus - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- American Dipper Species Account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Template:Usurped for United States
- The Dipper - Plain, yes, but not so ordinary
- American Dipper photo gallery VIREO
- Short radio episode The Water-Ouzel, from The Mountains of California, by John Muir 1894. California Legacy Project.
- The American Dipper and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance