Dippers | Cinclidae

Waterspreeuwen | Mirlos acuáticos | Dippers

Squat birds with a stubby cocked tail, powerful legs with long toes and strong claws, and exceptionally dense, greasy plumage carrying far more feathers than a songbird of the same size usually does; the preen gland above the tail is proportionally enormous and supplies the oil that keeps the feathers waterproof. Most species dive in from a rock or straight out of flight, row underwater with short rounded wings, and walk along the bed into the current with the head down, so that the flow presses them against the gravel. Below the surface a flap closes the nostrils, a transparent third eyelid slides across the eye, and a heavy skeleton with little air in the bones holds them down. They feed on caddis, mayfly and stonefly larvae and small crustaceans taken from under the stones. The nest is a domed ball of moss with a side entrance, built behind a waterfall, in a rock crevice or bank wall or under a bridge, often just above the spray. In most species the song is loud and sustained and pitched exactly where it will carry over the roar of the water. Worldwide the family holds only five species, every one of them tied to fast-flowing water; in this guide these are the White-capped Dipper, which lives along fast, rocky streams and rivers of the Andes, from the foothills to high in the mountains, and the Rufous-throated Dipper.