Free Range Photography

The joyful serendipity of an unexpected bird on an otherwise dullish day is the endlessly giving feature of watching birds that is one of few things in life that makes me believe in grace. This morning was gloomy and windy, a stubborn overcast never really left until about noon, and during my time at the river earlier in the morning was accompanied by an annoying wind that drowned out the few bird sounds there were and kept most birds under cover.

When it was about time to pack it in I suddenly heard a quick buzzy screech and right across the river from me an American Dipper appeared and perched on a branch not far above the water. It looked to be a juvenile, such a bright sign on this stretch of the South Fork.

It did its characteristic genuflecting for a few seconds and was gone again, just like that. The water it was perched over was a little too placid and deep to be used for this aquatic bird’s hunting ground, and indeed in the direction it came from and returned to there are some riffles where I’ve seen two Dippers foraging for food before.

Watch for the contrasting white eyelid that flashes when the bird “dips”.

Dippers walk on stream beds or perch on rocks in the middle of fast-flowing water as they hunt. They can even submerge themselves entirely when looking for prey. They eat insect larvae, small fish and invertebrates.

It’s never dull or boring out there. Even when nothing much happens, something’s always happening. But when a Dipper shows up a gray day lights up.