Dipper feeding Behaviour

Peter Tonkin and I spent yesterday working once again with the Dippers at Kennell Vale

We concentrated on watching their feeding behaviour and commented on how capable they are as a lightweight bird in coping with the strong river currents

There prey was mainly dragonfly nymphs wrapped in camouflaging twigs and leafs that the nymphs cement around their body which often proved difficult for the Dipper to remove before consuming them

The three image below show a Dipper bashing a nymph against a semi-submerged rock to finally remove the protective husk

With the business of feeding out of the way this bird registered our presence with eye contact for the first time in nearly two hours, Such had been its level of concentration while taking half a dozen or more nymphs from the river.

While keeping an eye on us it went through a bit of preening, a body shake-out and finally a wing stretch to release some trapped water from under its wings before departing off down stream.