White-throated Dipper - Cinclus cinclus

White-throated Dipper

Cinclus cinclus

Order : Passeriformes

Family : Cinclidae ;

4 autres fiches de cette famille.
English version
American Dipper
French version
American Dipper
Brown Dipper
White-throated Dipper

Biometrics :

Size : 17 à 20 cm
Wingspan : 25 à 30 cm
Weight : 55 à 75 g

Longevity : 8 years

IUCN conservation status :

Extinct

Threatened

Least
concern

Extinc
in the Wild

Near
threatened

Not
evaluated

EX EW CR EN VU NT LC NE

Geographic range :

Synonyms : Olyapka (ru), Strömstare (sv), Mirlo acuático (es), Merlo acquaiolo (it), Wasseramsel (al), Waterspreeuw (nl), White-throated Dipper (en)

Physical description :
White-throated Dipper is a short-tailed bird. Head, nape and upper back are reddish-brown. Back is dark slate-grey, with dark scaly pattern visible at close range.
It has pure white chin, throat and breast, separated from the dark belly by a chestnut breast band.
Bill is blackish. Eyes are dark, with pale eyelid and whitish nictitating membrane, visible when it blinks. This membrane protects the eyes when the bird is submerged. Legs and feet are pink.
Both sexes are similar.
Juvenile is greyer on upperparts, with dark edges. Underparts are white, mottled with grey. Legs and feet are pinkish. It has dark eyes with whitish eye ring.

We have several subspecies which differ in colour, mainly on underparts.
Cinclus c. cinclus : it breeds in northern Europe, and has no chestnut breast band. It has black belly. It moves in lowlands in winter.
Cinclus c. gularis : from west and north of Great Britain. It is resident.
Cinclus c. aquaticus : from Central Europe. It is resident.
Cinclus c. leucogaster : from Central Asia. It has white belly.
Cinclus c. olympicus : last record in 1950 in Cyprus. It disappeared after deforestation.

Voice :
Sound from CD 'Tous les Oiseaux d'Europe' by Jean C. Roché by courtesy of Sittelle and CEBA. White-throated Dipper utters a rasped 'zit' or a metallic 'chink' highly penetrating. Song is a long warble of liquid and grating notes, sometimes given in flight. It sings all year round, except in moult season in mid-summer. It sings perched on a low branch, a root or a rock, over water. Female sings as male in all periods.

Habitat : White-throated Dipper lives in fast flowing rivers and streams, and on lakesides. Populations move to lower altitudes in winter, and even to the coats and estuaries.
GEOGRAPHIC RANGE: White-throated Dipper lives in Europe and Middle-East. It is sedentary, moving only in extreme winter conditions.

Behaviour : White-throated Dipper finds its food mainly in the water. It has no webbed feet, but it swims very well. It stands on a rock or a branch, often bobbing up and down while it cocks its tail, and when it locates a prey, it slips under the surface, and walks into the water, or even, it flies underwater. Its soft and dense plumage allows good insulation in the water where it finds larvae and small fishes. After diving, it may float downstream a short distance, with partly open wings, before emerging.
In order to slip under the surface, it holds itself down, with head well down and oblique position of its body, and once in the water, it grips with its strong feet and moves freely.
It also walks and runs on the ground, on the shore of the streams, to search terrestrial insects. When weather is too cold and water is frozen, it moves to lower altitudes to find food and open waters.
During courtship displays, male flies high above its territory, uttering its metallic notes 'clink-clink-clink', high pitched and repeated. Male also runs and exposes its white breast to the female. Pair stays together for one year.
White-throated Dipper is usually seen solitary or in pairs, but several birds may roost together in winter, in a sheltered place, such as under a bridge.

Flight : White-throated Dipper flies low and fast with short whirring wings. It usually follows the course of the river, and has straight flight.

Reproduction-nesting : White-throated Dipper nests very close to the water, near the surface or at about 2 metres above, under a bridge. It also uses cavities in banks, holes in walls and old trees over water.
Both adults build the large domed nest, with mosses, dry grasses and leaves. But this construction is only a shelter. The entrance is hidden beneath a vegetal edge and there is the real nest, a cup of grass and sedges, lined with leaves, mainly oak leaves (quercus robur).
Female lays 4 to 6 white eggs, in March or April. Incubation lasts about 14 to 16 days, by female. Male approaches from the nest only when female leaves it to feed, and it surveys the nest site. Male may also feed the female at nest.
Altricial chicks are fed by both parents for a month. But young may leave the nest before, at 24 to 25 days after hatching.
This species produces 2 to 3 broods per season, and they reuse the same nest.

Food habits : White-throated Dipper feeds on insects and larvae, aquatic insects, small crustaceans and molluscs. It also consumes earthworms, tadpoles and small fishes, and sometimes fish's eggs.

Protection / threats : White-throated Dipper is not threatened at this time, and relatively common in suitable habitat.

Other links :
Iucn
Birdlife

Specification sheet created by Nicole Bouglouan

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