American Dipper

Cinclus mexicanus

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family CINCLIDAE

Menu

1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Sound
4. Range
5. Habitat
6. Food
7. Reproduction
8. Conservation Status
9. Other Names

A chunky bird of western streams, the American Dipper is North America's only truly aquatic songbird. It catches all of its food underwater in swiftly flowing streams by swimming and walking on the stream bottom.

Cool Facts

• The American Dipper chooses a nest site, invariably along a stream, that provides security from floods and predators. Availability of suitable nest sites appears to limit its populations.
• To be able to survive in cold waters during the winter, the American Dipper has a low metabolic rate, extra oxygen-carrying capacity in its blood, and a thick coat of feathers.

• Unlike most other songbirds, but similarly to ducks, the American Dipper molts its wing and tail feathers all at once in the late summer. The bird is flightless during this time.

Description

• Size: 14-20 cm (6-8 in)
• Weight: 43-67 g (1.52-2.37 ounces)

• Stocky, medium-sized bird.
• Gray all over.
• Large head; short neck.
• Long legs.
• Short tail.
• Thin, dark bill.
• White eyelids obvious when it blinks.
• Constantly bobs body up and down.

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike, but male is larger.

Immature

Similar to adult, but with faint pale barring on underside.

Sound

Song clear and ringing, with repeated notes. Call a sharp "zeet."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Resident on streams from Alaska through Mountain West, southward to Panama.

Winter Range

Winter movements are local, moving only to unfrozen streams.

Habitat

Fast-moving, clear, unpolluted streams with cascades, riffles, and waterfalls.

Food

Aquatic insects.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Two-part domed or ball-like structure with side entrance. Canopy of dome may overhang entrance hole to keep out water. Outer shell of moss with small amounts of interwoven grass and leaves. Inner chamber globular with woven cup of grass and leaves, sometimes bark. Built close to fast moving water, on crevice, cliff, or under a bridge. Will use nestbox.

Egg Description

White.

Clutch Size

Usually 4-5 eggs. Range: 2-6.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with only sparse down.

Conservation Status

Populations not well censused. Bridges provide nesting sites, but stream pollution can destroy food supplies.

Other Names

Cincle d'Amerique, Cincle Americain (French)
Tordo acuático, Cinclo norteamericano (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Kingery, H. E. 1996. American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus). In The Birds of North America, No. 229 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.