Tweeters

As noted by Jim:
>Walked down to the Whatcom Creek near the post office in Bellingham to
>watch the salmon. Amongst the many salmon was a Dipper.

I too have seen Dippers at or near sea level. I have been boating and
birding up and down the coast between here and Southeast Alaska and have
often seen dippers in streams within a few hundred yards of saltwater every
where along the way. Last spring I video taped Dippers copulating; they
were on a rock in a stream about 50 feet from saltwater in Princess Louisa
Inlet, about 75 miles north of Vancouver, BC.

The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. III, pp 336 has an excellent description
of both breeding and nonbreeding range and habitat preferences for the
American Dipper. It includes as common for range and behavior just what you
saw.

Maybe it is not so much elevation that determines where Dippers live as it
is the quality of the stream habitat. Maybe we don't often see Dippers
near sea level here and elsewhere down the coast because our low level
streams tend to be more degraded.

Kudos to Bellingham for having an urban stream in good enough shape to have
a salmon run and Dippers.

Steve Gross
Snohomish WA