On Saturday, April 30, while looking for Harlequin Ducks on the
Dosewallips River, we discovered an American Dipper nest. That day
and the next, we spent a total of five hours quietly observing the
nest from across the raging torrent, and photographing the activity
with long telephoto lenses. It was a pretty dull wait, since the
female was incubating and largely hidden inside the mossy nest. But
twice we saw the male approach the nest, and Karen got a nice video
of him "talking with" and "singing to her" from just outside the
nest. In this video you can see the best of the action and get a
sense of the location of the nest in relation to the river. You will
want to turn up the sound to hear the Dipper's call over the splendid
noise of the Dosewallips.

Go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH1dfnyBSOQ

It was a wonderful weekend to be out, with buds starting to burst and
a bit of scarce warm sunshine. Alas, only one Harlequin, but the
Dipper nest more than made up for it.

Karen and Lee Rentz
Shelton, WA
lee at leerentz.com