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Charlie Fleming | all galleries >> Birds of the world in Taxonomic order. Species count to December 2023 is 980 >> Dipper - Cinclus cinclus >> A Devon Dipper Diary > 23 February, another visit to the nest.
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23-FEB-2012

23 February, another visit to the nest.

At 1003 the male appeared from upstream and landed on the waterfall. He sang for 30 seconds or so and then continued down the river. 10 minutes or so later, the female followed, also calling in-flight which is the first time that I have been certain that females call on the wing like this. Now I knew that they were down-stream together, I expected both birds to eventually make their way back up towards me and in front of the nest. This is exactly what happened but it took more than an hour. Both birds suddenly appeared and with a flurry of musical chatter from the male, there they both were on the favourite boulder at the foot of the nest. The female immediately flew up in to the nest and the male seemed to slink away on foot down stream. It seemed to me that he deliberately tried to keep a low-profile and this is an obvious ploy so as not to attract interest in the nest site from predators. I never did see the female leave the nest nor the area, obviously she is even more covert than the male. About 30 minutes later they both retuned to the waterfall area right next to the hide and opposite the nest. This time they totally ignored the nest, they fed and the female bathed.

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