January 21, 2013
American Dipper in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

American Dippers are common in Yellowstone National Park near the confluence of the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek. I've seen more this year than I have before, probably because good stretches of those bodies of water are completely frozen over so they are forced to congregate in a smaller area where there is open water. You see, dippers feed by standing by the side of a stream or river and look for insect larva, or small crayfish, to go by. When they see a potential prey item, they dive right in and grab it. I photographed this one shortly after it popped up out of the water with some prey in its beak. Oh, another cool thing about them is that they're also called Water Ouzel. How's that for a great name?