Thanks to all who posted about dippers using lakes and ponds.

The Birds of North America account, amid six paragraphs about river/stream
usage includes the following:

"During postbreeding wandering, sometimes feeds in beaver ponds, mountain
lakes, and tarns."

I guess this is a somewhat limited, seasonal activity.

= Michael

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Hobbs" <birdmarymoor at verizon.net>
To: "Tweeters (E-mail)" <TWEETERS at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 10:24 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Odd dipper sighting


> Tweets - yesterday, my family hiked with the Washington Native Plant
> Society up (almost) to Silver Peak, above Hyak. While on the Pacific
> Crest trail at somewhat above 4000' elevation, we came across one of those
> shallow alpine ponds, perhaps 1500-2000 sq. ft. Along the edge (and
> feeding there for several hours) was an American Dipper. This is the
> first time I've ever seen one in slack water. The only stream nearby was
> the one feeding and draining the pond, and it was no more than a couple of
> feet wide.
>
> I did read, in the new Birds of Washington (Wahl et. al, 2005), that they
> will range up to tree line during post breeding dispersal. So I guess
> that's what I saw.
>
> == Michael Hobbs
> == Kirkland, WA
> == http://www.scn.org/fomp/birding.htm
> == birdmarymoor at verizon.net
>
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