John, Tweets...

Only once have I seen a lake shore Dipper, but this does represent 10%
of my Dipper observations; from my notes:

13 Dec 1978: One seen at Tarboo Lake, Jefferson Co., near the boat
launch ramp standing on a small cobble protruding ~10-15 cm above the
water surface. I got to within 15 ft of it and observed it for ~5 min.;
only when I approached to within ~10 ft did it fly off. Later I saw it
diving into still water from its perch on a lake shore rock. I'd also
see it swimming on the lake surface, paddling in the fashion of a duck.

On 12 Feb 2009 at 8:02, johntubbs at comcast.net wrote:

From: johntubbs at comcast.net
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Date sent: Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:02:33 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: [Tweeters] American Dipper Foraging in Still Water (no,
not Stillwater the location)

> Hi everyone,
>
> Earlier this week, while doing volunteer work in the Cedar River
> watershed for one of their wildlife biologists, I observed unusual (at
> least to me) behavior?by an American Dipper.? My experience and
> everything I recall reading about them has them as denizens of moving
> water - streams - particularly mountain streams?or at least streams
> with generally clear water since they forage underwater by sight.?
> Well, I came across a Dipper actively foraging along a lake shore.?
> The bird was hopping about on partially submerged sticks and other
> lakeside vegetation, picking underwater but generally only by
> submerging its head - I didn't see it actually full submerge as the
> birds do in streams.
>
> Is this behavior very rare, as it is in my experience, or have I just
> not had occasion to run across it before?
>
> I wondered if this behavior might be related to the recent floods,
> which had very noticeable effects on the small feeder creeks to the
> Cedar River - several had been heavily scoured out by the water.?
> This scouring action could have adversely affected the aquatic insect
> life on the stream beds, causing the bird to go looking for food
> elsewhere, I suppose.
>
> John Tubbs
> Snoqualmie, WA
> johntubbs at comcast.net

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Douglas Canning
Olympia, Wash
dcanning at zhonka.net
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