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Over the past few weeks, I’ve gone from pulling on my heavy down parka jacket and tucking the hood up around my face to wearing only a light windbreaker when I run errands. If you’ve been outside these past few weeks here in the Eagle River Valley, you’ve also probably witnessed firsthand the dramatic temperature and weather pattern changes that have brought both bitterly cold and springlike conditions within days of each other.
Today, we’re sharing information about a favorite little songbird that calls our valley home. The American dipper is a prime example of adaptation to the substantial shifts in its surroundings, both as the seasons change and during the more condensed periods of temperature upheaval like we experienced recently here in the High Country.
Last October, Peter Wadden, the watershed health specialist with the town of Vail, presented about the American dipper at a free town of Vail Lunch with the Locals event. Since then, I’ve joined Peter and many others in becoming fascinated by the drab-looking little gray bird, a unique songbird that doesn’t have hollow bones.
The American dipper, sometimes called the water ouzel, is North America’s only aquatic songbird, and is one of only five dipper species worldwide. Dippers will almost certainly charm the socks off anyone who comes across their paths. Seeking their favorite snacks — fish eggs, trout fry, and aquatic macroinvertebrates like mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies — dippers will dive headfirst into swiftly-flowing, frigid waters like Gore Creek, putting on a show for those of us who spot them bobbing around.
From a respectable distance onshore, an observer will witness these birds dip, hop and flit among the rocks, poke their heads underwater, and likely disappear into the current. They’ll pop back up a few seconds later, bugs in their beaks, with only a quick shiver to flick the water drops from their bodies.
Dippers are nonmigratory, and while they may move about to seek open water if their nearby streams fully freeze over, they do not migrate to warmer climates, instead staying relatively near their nesting grounds. Like trout, they like fast-flowing, cold streams with lots of crevices and nooks where tasty bugs can be found year-round.
Since they depend on healthy rivers and streams for their habitat and food, dippers serve as indicator species, or animals whose presence or absence may indicate certain conditions in the environment. In this case, the presence of dippers helps indicate the water quality of a particular stream stretch. If you spot dippers snacking on stoneflies, in particular, it is reasonable that that area’s water quality measures high.
How is it that this little bird, smaller than a robin, can survive in these mountain climates, especially in the winter, when the water in local streams is hardly above freezing? As mentioned above, dippers are well-adapted to their environment, and, in this case, it is their covering of thick, down feathers that create spaces for air pockets that insulate them. They also have oil glands in their tails, similar to those of ducks. You may see a dipper preening, and it’s actually using its beak like a comb to spread the oils that create its waterproof coating.
Dippers are strong critters, using their wings like flippers underwater, and using their strong legs and feet to propel themselves and clutch rocks along the streambed while hunting. Because they have nictitating membranes to cover their eyes and act like swimming goggles, dippers’ eyes perform well both underwater and on land. These membranes keep their eyes moist in our dry air when they’re dipping and bobbing while hunting for food and clear of debris underwater as well.
During his presentation, Peter shared that dippers enjoy some of the best real estate in Vail, building nests of mosses, grasses and twigs that can be seen on bridges and sometimes even on rocks in and near riverbanks. Locally, threats include mink and nest parasites, like blackbirds and cowbirds. Nest parasites can be seen laying eggs in dipper nests, out-competing young dippers for the food brought to their nests. They may even push young dippers out, tricking the adults into raising these imposters as their own.
With continued urbanization, some species, such as blackbirds and cowbirds, are better adapted than dippers to living among humans and have been informally observed locally to seem to be growing in population size. Some ideas that arose during the Lunch with the Local presentation focused on shifting some of our habits away from behaviors that inadvertently benefit generalists. These ideas included replacing bird feeders with native perennial plants and ensuring that trash cans are securely latched. Besides benefiting non-generalist birds by encouraging pollinators and reducing access to trash scraps that attract them, these actions are also in line with local bear awareness campaigns that protect both our local human and wildlife communities.
If you’d like to spot American dippers, consider visiting the Eagle River Preserve in Edwards, the Eagle River Park in Eagle or take a walk along Gore Creek, behind the Donovan Park soccer fields. Along the bike path, you’ll come across a town of Vail installation that focuses on the American dipper, with a mounted spotting scope for you to watch them.
Visit the Town of Vail calendar at Vail.gov/government/news-announcements to hear about upcoming free Lunch with the Locals events. You can also watch the recordings online anytime, thanks to High Five Access Media, at HighFiveMedia.org/series/lunch-locals.
Read the Vail Daily article here.
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