Rare American dipper denied protection
Diving, splashing, flying, bobbing – the American dipper is a funny bird. The dipper is a small, gray songbird that lives here in the Black Hills and is a real treat to watch, but not many people get the chance.
You see, there is an isolated population of only 50 to 100 of these birds in the Black Hills, with the next closest population of them located in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming.
Recently, federal officials denied a request to add the dipper to the protected species list. Conservation groups had submitted a petition to provide more protection for the bird, but U.S Fish & Wildlife Services said that the petition did not provide enough evidence that protection was necessary for the birds in the Black Hills.
Nobody is quite sure how or when the dipper population established itself in the Black Hills, but they have been seen off and on in the area for more than one hundred years.
It’s a bird that lives primarily near cold, mountain streams and nests in rocky cliffs and near waterfalls. This description of what it likes to call home explains why I’ve been lucky enough to see dippers around Roughlock Falls in Spearfish Canyon.
Over the years, wildlife officials in the area have confirmed American dippers nesting near most of the creeks in the central and northern Black Hills. According to reports though, the only current breeding populations live along Whitewood and Spearfish Creeks.
Since the dippers are a very plain looking bird, they can be easily missed by visitors to the Black Hills. What they lack in color, they make up for in activity. The best way that I can describe them is that they act like they’ve had just a bit too much caffeine.
One minute they’ll be sitting comfortably on a rock in the middle of a stream and the next, they will literally dive straight down into the rushing water, splash around a bit and then pop back up with a bug of some sort in their beaks.
They really are entertaining to watch. Next time you make it into Spearfish Canyon, be sure to keep your eyes peeled near Roughlock Falls – you just might catch a glimpse of these rare little residents of the beautiful Black Hills.
