Common Dipper bird has several names. Scientists call it in Latin Cinclus cinclus. This representative of the Passeriformes is studied and described with great interest, since the bird leads a very unusual way of life. And the people call the bird, based on similarities with more common species. There are two such colloquial names - waterbird and water sparrow.
View description
As already mentioned, the common dipper is a representative of a large detachment of passerines. In total, in this order there are approximately 5400 species of birds of small and medium size. Despite one of the popular names, the dipper is smaller than the thrush, it is closer in size to the starling. Like all passerines, the dipper has a beak without a wax at the base (the so-called skin thickening, on which the nasal openings are located).
The body size of the bird is about 20 cm, the weight can vary between 50-85 g. The wingspan of this bird is about 25-30 cm. It has a very short tail, stocky build and beak pressed from the sides. The color of the plumage plumage has characteristic features. The back and wings are covered with a dark brown feather. On the chest and neck, and in the Asian subspecies and on the abdomen, a white shirt-front. Head and tummy chocolate color. The dipper bird has a decoration on the back in the form of an intricate scaly pattern. However, it can be seen only close up; from afar, the pattern is not noticeable.
Females and males are outwardly the same. During the season, their color does not change. But the young stands out with a lighter color. The back of them is grayish-brown, covered with a clear scaly pattern. The white color of the shirt front gradually turns to gray on the abdomen. The plumage of an ordinary dipper is very dense; when immersed in water, it does not wet.
How the Dipper Sings
The water sparrow makes loud but pleasant sounds. Summoning singing during the mating season is like a murmuring trill mixed with whistling. Only males sing, the first songs are heard even in winter, and in spring, dippers begin to build nests. Calling for dippers are sharp jerky sounds, similar to "zit, zit …".
Spread
Olyapki are inhabitants of mountainous and hilly places in different territories of Eurasia. Bird is common in Scandinavia and Norway. It is found in Finland, the Urals, in the countries of Asia Minor, in the Carpathians, as well as in the Caucasus and in Northern and Eastern Iran.
Dipper nests were discovered north of the Kola Peninsula. In the descriptions there was the name Imandra, Khibiny, Pinozero, Kandalaksha. There are nests in the Karelian-Finnish Republic.
According to the data of Soviet scientists Ushkov, Vorontsov, Kirikov, in the Middle Urals and Perm Territory, the dipper bird nests as a settled species. According to Sushkin and Zarudny, the common dipper is distributed throughout the territory of Bashkiria and the Caucasus to the southern borders.
Behavior features
The most outstanding feature is the ability to dive. In fact, this is the only species from the order of Passeriformes (there are more than 5400 of them, as you remember), which has a similar skill. This unusual skill attracts close attention to an ordinary dipper.
Lifestyle
The dipper bird described above is a near-water resident. It settles along the banks of streams or shallow rivers with a fast flow and clear water. Rocky shores accompany this bird all his life. Here she feeds, builds nests and grows chicks. Dipper is not afraid of frost. She can dive at 20-30 degrees of frost. A water sparrow never settles near standing water bodies. He does not like birds and rivers with a slow measured current. And the dipper does not recognize muddy water. All these requirements are closely related to the bird's lifestyle.
How a bird gets food
Maybe you paid attention to the fact that the dipper, the photo of which can be found in books, magazines, is mainly in the water or near it? Most likely, the bird is preparing to dine or has just finished the meal. It is worth talking in more detail about how the dipper gets food. This is a real show. Here are just a few fortunate enough to see the enchanting action. Dipper beware of people.
For food, the dipper dives into the water. She catches the stream and opens its wings so that the current presses the feathered hunter to the bottom. Under water, the bird can run almost 20 meters. She tenaciously grabs her feet on the bottom pebbles and slightly moves her wings. Wing movements control the angle and size of the surface of the wings. This allows you to change direction and resist flow. From the side it may seem that the dipper is dancing underwater in a silver suit. This optical effect is created by air bubbles that accumulate on greasy plumage. The abundance of fat that the coccygeal gland secretes greases the feathers, preventing them from getting wet. This serves as excellent protection against the cold. To emerge, the bird folds its wings, and water pushes it to the surface.
The famous Russian animal writer Vitaly Bianchi called the dipper “a crazy bird.” He described how a water sparrow dives into wormwood, runs along the bottom and emerges into another wormwood. Today, hunting in bubbling foamy water would be called underwater rafting. Under water, the dipper can be from 10 to 50 seconds. She dives to a depth of about a meter, but occasionally a deeper dive - 1.5 m.
Diet
Now we know how the bird Dipper extracts food. It remains to understand what exactly she eats. The diet consists of water insects, caddis flies, bottom living creatures, sometimes invertebrates, even fry.
If possible, then the birds will collect food on coastal stones and among algae.
Dipper Nests
Water sparrows build nests close to the water. They place them among stones, in coastal niches and crevices, under cliffs, in root cavities, under bridges or on tree branches. The female and the male build a dwelling from plant material (moss, grass, roots, algae, and so on). The nest looks like the wrong ball or an amorphous moss pile. The entrance to the dwelling is located on the side, it is elongated like a pipe. Inner litter - dry leaves, wool or grass.
In fiction many times a description has been given of the nests of a dipper arranged under a waterfall. But this does not occur in our territories. For birds inhabiting the Urals, Caucasus, Carpathians and the Far East, this is uncharacteristic.
Masonry
The snapper allows you to make a photo of the nest rarely, since it masks your home well. In clutch there can be 4-7 eggs. The eggs are small, their height is not more than 30 mm. The shell is white, without impurities of other colors. Only female incubates. It takes up to 17 days to sit on the masonry. At this time, the male collects the food, but sometimes the female herself goes to fishing.
Chicks are covered with long dark brown down. Their oral cavity is orange-yellow, beak ridges are pale yellow. Babies are in the nest for no more than 27 days. Then they pass to the "adult" life. At first, the chicks do not fly. They watch their parents from behind stones, and learn to get food. As soon as the chicks begin independent hunting, the parents drive them out of their forage land. After that, they can postpone the second brood.
Life cycle
Young dippers leave their parental nests in the fall. They find life-friendly areas and stick to them all their lives. If the river in this place is not covered with ice, then the dippers winter in the usual territories. Otherwise, in winter, birds migrate to wormwood with a fast current. Some birds fly away for wintering. In the spring, many dippers return to the old nests, repair them and create pairs. These birds nest from the first year of life, they can live up to 7 years.
