Dippers are plain-colored, short-tailed, unassuming little birds with a fluttery but fast flight and a modest song.   The name 'dipper' comes from their characteristic bobbing motions as they perch on rocks and stones.   They also have the startling habit of feeding underwater in ice-cold rushing mountain streams, using their wings to fly beneath the surface and their strong feet to grip the bottom and counteract the buoyancy of the air layer trapped in their feathers.   Often they look a bit like rock climbers wedging up a chute (immediately below at right).   They hunt by ducking their heads to peer underwater, then casually diving into the water and popping up a few feet away, sometimes with a small insect tidbit that is quickly consumed.   Dippers lack contrasty plumage patterns, but their eyelids can flash starkly white.   Their nests are neat mossy balls placed on steep rock faces near water, often constructed behind waterfalls and sometimes on bridges.
            These dippers were foraging in the Virgin River canyon in Zion National Park in Utah; the water in many of the images appears golden from reflections from the canyon walls in the morning sun.   Additional pages show dippers from the Merced River in Yosemite National Park, California and the nearby eastern Sierra Nevada.

• Canon 1D IV or 7D2, 800 mm IS lens + 1.4X converter, fill-in flash (2010, 2019)