Black-bellied Dipper

Apologies for the catchy title, but I didn't want to leave anything to the imagination. This particular bird has been gnawing away at me for several weeks, but there has always been something else to do. Finally I plucked up the courage to go and made Bradders drive me there. He wanted to see Owls or something. Whatever. But do you know what? I wanted to leave before he did! With several gigabytes in reserve, I decided that I'd had enough. Not being able to feel my feet was the primary reason, but after three hours with this superb little bird, I had actually had my fill. I've just finished the most monumental editing session I can remember in a long time, and after deleting most of what I took, funnily enough I have a few Black-bellied Dipper photos to share. Just a few....as you know I am extremely restrained when it comes to posting photos on my blog. If you are the "in for a penny, in for a pound" type however, you can see lots more here. And I mean lots, more than lots normally means. I have no self control, that's my biggest problem. Happily my shutter is rated for 300,000 clicks....

Moving away from the absurd quantity of photos, and instead talking about the bird, there aren't enough superlatives. If somebody had told me several weeks ago quite how brilliant this bird was, I would have gone immediately rather than leave it this long. To think it could have done a runner without me ever having seen it, gah! It performed to all comers for the entire morning, and likely the entire afternoon as well, mere feet away. I might go back tomorrow, it was that good! I estimate it was never further away than about 40 feet, and sometimes half that. Completely unconcerned about all the attention it was getting, it was fishing constantly, finding a seemingly inexhaustible supply of succulent morsels on the bed of the stream. Every now and again it started singing, which in the manner of many streamside dwellers, carried surprisingly clearly above the sound of the rushing and burbling water. Magic.