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Dipper
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==Adaptations== Unlike many water birds, dippers are generally similar in form to many terrestrial birds (for example, they do not have [[Bird feet and legs#Webbing and lobation|webbed feet]]), but they do have some morphological and physiological adaptations to their aquatic habits. They have evolved solid bones to reduce their buoyancy,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/07/country-diary-dipper-aquatic-to-its-bones-garsdale-cumbria |title=Country diary: it looks like a songbird, but the dipper is aquatic to its bones |work=www.theguardian.com |date=7 April 2018 |access-date=22 October 2023}}</ref> and their wings are relatively short but strongly muscled, enabling them to be used as flippers underwater. The [[plumage]] is dense, with a large [[preen gland]] for waterproofing their feathers. Relatively long legs and sharp claws enable them to hold on to rocks in swift water. Their eyes have well-developed focus muscles that can change the curvature of the lens to enhance underwater vision.<ref name=Goodge1960>{{cite journal | last = Goodge | first = W.R. | year = 1960 | title = Adaptations for amphibious vision in the Dipper (''Cinclus mexicanus'') | journal = Journal of Morphology | volume = 107 | pages = 79β91 | doi=10.1002/jmor.1051070106 | pmid = 13707012 | s2cid = 7227306 }}</ref> They have nasal flaps to prevent water entering their nostrils.<ref name=hbw>{{cite journal | last1=Ormerod | first1=S. | last2=Tyler | first2=S. | year=2020 | title=Dippers (Cinclidae) | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | journal=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher=Lynx Edicions | doi=10.2173/bow.cincli1.01 | s2cid=242827109 | url=https://www.hbw.com/node/52314 | access-date=11 February 2019 |url-access=subscription }} The text is identical to Volume 10 of the print edition published in 2005.</ref> The high [[haemoglobin]] concentration in their [[blood]] gives them a capacity to store [[oxygen]] greater than that of other birds, allowing them to remain underwater for 30 seconds or more,<ref name=Tyler1994>{{ cite book | last1=Tyler | first1=Stephanie J. | last2=Ormerod | first2=Stephen J. | year=1994 | title=The Dippers | location=London | publisher=Poyser | isbn=0-85661-093-3}}</ref> whilst their [[basal metabolic rate]] is approximately one-third slower than typical terrestrial passerines of similar mass.<ref>{{ cite journal | last=Murrish | first=David E.| year=1970 | title=Responses to temperature in the dipper, ''Cinclus mexicanus'' | journal= Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology| volume=34 | issue=4 | pages=859β869 | doi=10.1016/0010-406X(70)91009-1 }}</ref> One small population wintering at a hot spring in [[Suntar-Khayata Range|Suntar-Khayata Mountains]] of [[Siberia]] feeds underwater when air temperatures drop below {{convert|-55|C}}.<ref name="sh/">{{ cite journal | last1=Dinets | first1=V. | last2=Sanchez | first2=M. | year=2017 | title=Brown Dippers (''Cinclus pallasi'') overwintering at β65Β°C in Northeastern Siberia | journal=Wilson Journal of Ornithology | volume=129 | issue=2 | pages=397β400 | doi=10.1676/16-071.1 | s2cid=91058122 }}</ref>
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