Songbird Flies Underwater 2
Nov 13, 2014 | Birds, Dipper
- This video shows an American Dipper searching for aquatic insects and fish underwater.
- Notice in the fairly shallow water how it uses both its legs and wings to propel itself.
- In the deeper water it uses its wings and basically “flies” underwater.
- In one of sequences it chases a juvenile coho salmon which it doesn’t catch.
- In this video the dipper is mostly looking for aquatic insects.
- Why does it search in amongst the woody debris that has accumulated in the stream?
- A lot of this searching occurs when the salmon are actively spawning in the stream.
- Aquatic insects that live amongst the gravel and stones are usually displaced by the salmons digging motions.
- They typically drift downstream and often accumulate in amongst the woody debris where salmon don’t usually spawn.
- Also there are some aquatic insects that prefer woody debris.
