The dipper is perhaps the most unusual bird in this region. It is a songbird that hunts for comestibles on the floor of turbulent mountain streams. It peeks below the water’s surface and dives to the creek bottom to fetch things to eat.
Here a dipper pauses on a rock before resuming its hunt for food in the creek.
The dipper stands on a rock and sticks its head underwater to search the bottom.
This is the horaltic pose, sometimes adopted by large birds to warm or dry their wings. The dipper does not need to do either of these things. Indeed, this is the first time I have seen a dipper adopt this stance (see, horaltic vultures).
Underwater spring
Video: It is rare that I think that a posting would have been improved by the inclusion of a video clip. I am usually more concerned with stopping motion than showing it. However today, a movie clip would have helped the communication. Alas, I do not have one.In mid-August, two springs appeared on the bed of Kokanee Creek (at ~400 metres from the mouth). They persisted until early September, when they disappeared. In mid-October, one spring reappeared.
Visually, the springs were a churning mass of a lighter shade of sand upwelling from below which then spreading sideways.
On September 1st, Gary Munro waded out and took temperature measurements. Thrusting the thermometer deep into the upwelling fluid, he got a reading of 7 °C. At the time the water flowing in the creek was 11 °C.
This suggests that the source of the spring water was not elsewhere on the creek, but possibly ground water from off the mountainside. But, who knows?
One of the springs on the bed of Kokanee Creek in mid-August.
Churning sand rises from the bed of the creek in mid October.
