American Dipper & nestlings
Over the week-end I birded my way to Salida through the Big Horn Sheep Canyon from my home in Canon City. The Arkansas River flows through this Canyon and there are several locations where I stop to look for nesting American Dippers.
As I stood looking at an obvious American Dipper nest under a bridge in the Coaldale area, a parent dipper flew in with food and I got the first photo that shows the fledgling peeking out after the parent bird left.
The second photo is just an enlargement of the first photo and it shows the fledgling dipper better. It's bill is clear while the outline of it's head can be discerned. A little of it's left eye can barely be seen but it's right eye is more visible. and almost looks reddish with a hint of yellow.
One of the parent birds returned while I was still standing under the bridge where the nest was located and I got the bottom two pics of it at the nest with a nestling visible. In the fourth pic, which is just an enlargement of the third pic, the bill and left eye of the fledgling is viewable. By double-clicking to enlarge that pic, the fledgling's eye can be seen as yellow which is consistent with what online states about fledglings at day 17 (after hatching).
Please note all pics are enlarged by cropping. I was standing about 18 feet from the nest and used my 400 mm lens to get these shots. I was a little closer to the adult but that is because it flew in and landed on a rock maybe 12 feet from me (always better for a bird to fly close to you). Due to the darkness under the bridge I did use a flash, which I rarely use with birds as clearly some flinch at a flash (these birds did not exhibit flinching or I would have stopped taking these pics). I stayed less than 10 minutes to reduce any disruption to these dippers. As my lens does not have image stabilization I shoot at fast speeds but still have to hold the camera quite still to get good results. SeEtta
As I stood looking at an obvious American Dipper nest under a bridge in the Coaldale area, a parent dipper flew in with food and I got the first photo that shows the fledgling peeking out after the parent bird left. 
The second photo is just an enlargement of the first photo and it shows the fledgling dipper better. It's bill is clear while the outline of it's head can be discerned. A little of it's left eye can barely be seen but it's right eye is more visible. and almost looks reddish with a hint of yellow. 
One of the parent birds returned while I was still standing under the bridge where the nest was located and I got the bottom two pics of it at the nest with a nestling visible. In the fourth pic, which is just an enlargement of the third pic, the bill and left eye of the fledgling is viewable. By double-clicking to enlarge that pic, the fledgling's eye can be seen as yellow which is consistent with what
Please note all pics are enlarged by cropping. I was standing about 18 feet from the nest and used my 400 mm lens to get these shots. I was a little closer to the adult but that is because it flew in and landed on a rock maybe 12 feet from me (always better for a bird to fly close to you). Due to the darkness under the bridge I did use a flash, which I rarely use with birds as clearly some flinch at a flash (these birds did not exhibit flinching or I would have stopped taking these pics). I stayed less than 10 minutes to reduce any disruption to these dippers. As my lens does not have image stabilization I shoot at fast speeds but still have to hold the camera quite still to get good results. SeEtta
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