DIPPER

The stream-loving Dipper is our most aquatic passerine (ie songbird or perching bird), perfectly at home plunging into a torrent, swimming under water and foraging for invertebrates, while clinging to stones on the stream bed. The name, though, probably derives not from it frequently going for a dip in the water, but rather from its constant bobbing or dipping, when out of the water. The old name ‘Water Ouzel’ uses the old name for a Blackbird: ouzel (as in Ring Ouzel”, as Dippers, though not closely related to thrushes, are roughly thrushsized and largely black.