The birds of “Discovery”—American Dipper

This is the seventh in a series of posts focused on the birds featured in my new novel, Discovery. Look for another one each week.

No bird should be able to walk underwater, especially against the current of a mountain stream. And no bird should resemble a small balloon. Yet there’s the American Dipper. Dippers look like some demented cartoonist’s version of a house wren. They even have the upright tail, at times. But they’re almost entirely gray. Their song would be almost pretty, if it weren’t for the interspersed sounds of a zipper.

I first saw this ridiculous creature when my family vacationed in Colorado. There was nothing like it back in Kansas, where I was born, and it took me a moment to believe what I was seeing — a small, dark bird on a rock in the middle of a rushing stream, bobbing up and down as if it suffered from some kind of tic.

Then it dove headfirst into the water, where I was sure it would be swept away. Instead, I could see it turn around and start walking on the gravelly bottom. I watched as it picked at the creek bed, seeking, as I found out later, the aquatic larvae that somehow managed to survive the frigid snowmelt.

Unlike ducks, grebes and other birds that find their food below the water’s surface, Dippers are not aquatic birds. They’re songbirds, like robins and cardinals and sparrows. They are, in fact, “North America’s only truly aquatic songbird,” according to allaboutbirds.org. Of course, their uniqueness doesn’t cancel their absurdity.

But you have to admire a bird that can let adversity wash over it the way Dippers do in their quest for sustenance. Maybe the bugs taste better when you have to face down the rushing current and bear the numbing cold. If you’ve ever dipped your toes in a mountain stream, you know what I mean. Dippers are equipped for the cold, though. They’re able to survive and thrive, even in winter, because their metabolic rate is low, and they have lots of feathers, even on their eyelids. Their blood also carries more oxygen than other birds’.

You have to respect a bird that manages to overcome its unfortunate looks and odd behavior to become ruler of the brook. Also, Dippers are just so much fun to watch. Look for them in cold mountain and coastal streams thoughout western North America, as long as the water is clean.