Amy,

That would seem to be an excellent two cents, and I certainly defer to your experience. I have seen caddisfly cases with conifer needles before but never one that looked so much like a plastic artifact. Looking at it again, I can see what you mean, and with the new photos, I can now see what looks like an arthropod leg sticking out. So the young dippers weren't plasticized! Sorry for my muddying the water, something one should never do where dippers are concerned.

I'm amazed that a dipper can catch salmonid fry, but I know they do so. In some streams they take a lot of sculpins, which, as bottom dwellers, would seem to be a bit easier to catch. We probably shouldn't let the agencies and tribes know that they catch salmonids, or dippers might come under their scrutiny just as Caspian Terns, Double-crested Cormorants, Ring-billed Gulls and other fish-eaters have, usually to their detriment.

Dennis


On Apr 23, 2012, at 3:33 PM, amy schillinger wrote:

> Interesting. It still looks like a caddisfly larva. The casing looks to have a green fir needle on the left side and a dead (brown) fir needle right next to it. I have seen caddisfly larva use fir needles often.
>
> Just my two cents,
>
> Amy Schillinger
> Renton, WA
> schillingera at hotmail.com
>
> > From: don at picturebookpublishing.com
> > Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:12:11 -0700
> > To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> > Subject: [Tweeters] American Dipper and larva 4/23
> >
> > Thank you all for the responses.
> > Most everyone thought it was a caddisfly larva, but the body structure is not like I have ever seen, and the dipper is very good at removing the casings. The dippers pack their mouths so it would be hard to say it is attached to the fish. I posted some more pictures, where you can see a caddisfly head, but there seems to be a caddisfly on the other side of the fish. I just hope it is not what Dennis suggested a manmade object, because it went right to the nestlings.
> >
> > http://e-picturebookdesigners.com/larva2.htm
> >
> > Other dipper news:
> > Feedings are very irregular. When I said the other day that 70% of the feedings were fish that is not accurate; I was referring to the ratio of fish to the number of feedings, but with most feedings there is more than just fish in the dippers mouth. So the number of fish to other critters, would be more like 30% or less, but the number of fish has increased with the passing days. They are now very actively hunting flies in the afternoon; so its fish and larvae for breakfast and lunch, and the same with tons of flies added to the dinner menu.
> >
> > Counting down the days to fledging. It could be any time after this Thursday , that will be day 21 as nestlings, the average is 25 days.
> >
> > The second female is pretty much on her own, we watched her for three hours Saturday, and she was running franticly getting food for her kids; much later in the day dad showed up and was helping for a few minutes. He maybe only spending an hour or so during the day at the second nest. Female #2 is taking care of herself, taking time to preen, rest, and eat.
> >
> > One more fact I have been able to confirm, dippers do not poop in the river, very rarely on rocks surrounded by water; usually they will go ashore, turn around (rear end facing away from river), dip and poop. They do however, drop the fecal sacks of the nestlings into the river. Nest #2 she is still removing the fecal sacks; nest #1 the chicks are going over the side of the nest and I haven't notices any removal by an adult for the last three days. Dippers like a clean, healthy river to play in.
> >
> > Thanks again for the help and thoughts.
> >
> > Don Wallace
> > Sequim
> > don at e-picturebookdesigners.com
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Tweeters at u.washington.edu
> > http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters
> _______________________________________________
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-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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