American Dipper Photo

The literature I have says American Dippers primarily feed by dipping their head below the water's surface, swimming below the surface, clambering along the stream bottom, and much less frequently, by picking insects and invertebrates from streamside vegetation.  Well, I wonder if different individuals specialize in different foraging techniques.  On this day, I saw up to three individual birds at one time.  Very often, one would fly down the canyon from the nesting area, land immediately next to the water, and forage through the streamside vegetation.

That's what this guy was doing, foraging along vegetation right on the shoreline, and even up a few feet onto dry land into the vegetation.  This photo was taken on July 8th, 2008 below Roughlock Falls, with Canon 20D, 400 5.6L.