Birds and Nature

On Saturday I located a total of 4 American Dippers at three locations along the Arkansas River in the Bighorn Sheep Canyon west of Canon City plus two nests at two locations. The photo just below shows one of the dipper nests. I videoed this American Dipper as it fed on the multiple insects on the shore. While this species is best known for feeding in and under rapidly moving water there had been a good caddis hatch so seems likely this bird as well as it's mate, that I also watched feeding on the shore, were enjoying the caddis flies. SeEtta

Both dipper parents were making repeated trips to bring food to hungry nestlings in this nest at Texas Creek. The dipper above has what appears to be some type of worm like invertebrate for it's offspring. In the pic below one of the parent birds has just quickly transferred some tasty morsel of food to the nestlings and is ready to fly back off to find more. SeEtta

In this short clip one of the American Dippers, with a big mouthful of nesting material, flies up under the mechanical arm that runs the gate to this small dam. The nest is located on a shelf on that mechanical arm just above where it connects with the gate. SeEtta

The top two pics show an American Dipper, with nesting material in it's mouth, perched on the mechanical arm of a dam gate. Both are the same pic but the second is much enlarged. The nest is located behind the gate arm and a foot or two directly below where the bird is perched. The bottom two pics show a dipper that I caught in flight as it approached the nest site that is behind the gate arm. SeEtta

I wanted to share two final pics of American Dippers I took last week-end. This shows an American Dipper I found in Salida that adapted to it's situation. The bridge where it is nesting is curved on the underside and has no walls perpendicular to the water on which to firmly attach a nest so this bird built it's nest in a crack in the bridge where some of the cement has fallen apart. Since there is a lot of kayaking under this bridge and a walking trail under one sde, it is also best that the nest is in the nest is in the center where it has some protection. The second pic is just an enlargement of the top pic showing the dipper with the nest above it (where the arrow points). I took pic of nest from about 75 feet away, again handheld. The bottom pic shows this American Dipper from a closer perspective. Check out it's toenails! This pic will enlarge for a good close-up view of the eye and toes, just double-click on it. It flew in to forage along the rocks near me and ...

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 th...