American Dipper
(Cinclus mexicanus)

Overview

Summary

© Jukka Jantunen (flickr.com/photos/jukka_jantunen)
For additional photos and vocalizations, visit Dendroica. (Link opens in a new window.)

The American Dipper is found along rushing mountain streams and rivers in western Canada. Its habitat preferences make it difficult to survey and it is not well-monitored in Canada. Breeding Bird Survey results for Canada, North America and from the Christmas Bird Count, suggest a moderate decrease in the Canadian population since the early 1970s, but there is substantial uncertainty in that assessment. There are no known pressing conservation concerns for the species at this time. This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe
• Breeding Bird Survey (BBS): Relative Abundance and Breeding Distribution (1993-2012)

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation of world population

Conservation and management

American Dipper populations are considered good indicators of ecosystem health, since they depend on rich invertebrate and fish populations that are sensitive to habitat disturbances such as siltation and acidification (Kingery 1996). Management practices that protect riparian areas from overgrazing, silting, overlogging, and pollution will benefit dippers. For example, dipper populations in South Dakota have declined as a result of sedimentation, pollution, and changes to stream flow (Willson and Kingery 2011). Dippers readily use nest boxes and other man-made structures that would support nests at suitable sites (Willson and Kingery 2011).

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Kingery, H. E. 1996. American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Kingery, H. E. 1996. American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)
• Willson, M.F. and H.E. Kingery. 2011. American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Willson, M.F. and H.E. Kingery. 2011. American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)