White-throated Dipper

How to recognise it

• All black at a distance, with a bright white chin and breast
• Plump and short-legged, with short rounded wings and a short square-ended tail
• Often perches on rocks in rapids, bobbing jerkily with its tail cocked
• Young birds are mottled grey with clean white only on the chin

Call and song

The song is often heard in midwinter and is a calmly delivered string of quiet, rather harsh and squeaky notes. The call is short and rasping, and in flight it gives a shrill "zil, zil, zil".

Where and when

The White-throated Dipper is a partial migrant that breeds across most of Sweden, most densely in the northern half and especially along streams on mountain slopes. In winter it is spread across the whole country, sometimes right out on the coast. It is reported most in December to February and rarely in April, August and September. Its share of all bird reports is highest in Jämtland, Västernorrland and Dalarna.

Food and behaviour

In the stream it searches for caddisfly larvae and other small invertebrates, and a favourite food is the small crustacean Gammarus. It swims and dives very skilfully. Its flight is fast and straight, without undulations or glides, with very rapid wingbeats. The fairly large, ball-shaped nest has a small round entrance and is built in rock crevices, under bridges and similar spots by flowing water.