Brown Dipper - BirdForum Opus

Subspecies C. p. tenuirostris
Photo © by Alok Tewari
Dist. Nainital, Alt.5000 ft., Uttarakhand Himalayas, India, 11 November 2013

Cinclus pallasii

Identification

Subspecies C. p. tenuirostris
Photo © by Marc Guyt
Near Sat Tal, India, 30 January 2005

21-23cm (8¼-9 in)

Overall dark chocolate-brown plumage including the head
More rufous-tinged back and breast
Darker wings and tail
Brown iris with white-feathered eyelids
Bill is blackish, slender and slightly hooked.
Legs and feet are blackish-brown.

The female is slightly smaller than male. Juvenile s duller with blackish-brown plumage. Its head and throat are spotted greyish-white. Its back, breast and belly have greyish-white scalloping. The tail, secondaries and tertials are edged greyish-white.

Distribution

Asia: found in Russia, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, China, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Eastern and Western Himalayas, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Korea, Japan, Taiwan
Southeast Asia: Indochina, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

C. p. tenuirostris: paler than nominate

Mountains of central Asia and Himalayas

C. p. dorjei: darker and smaller than nominate

Mountains of eastern Sikkim, Assam, eastern Tibet, northern Myanmar and northern Thailand

C. p. pallasii:

Mountains of north-eastern Asia, Japan, eastern and central China, Taiwan, northern Thailand, northern Vietnam

A fourth subspecies, C. p. marila confined to Taiwan is now merged with nominate.

Habitat

Fast flowing montane forest rivers, 1500-3200 m.

Behaviour

Forages by diving into streams or wading in shallow water. It often blinks while diving, showing the white eyelid which contrasts with its dark plumage.

Diet

It feeds from the bottom of rivers; the diet includes aquatic insect larvae, crabs and fish.

Breeding

It nests on rocks; both parents make the nest from grass, roots, moss and is lined with leaves. The clutch of 3-5 eggs is incubated by the female for 19-20 days, though both parents feed the young.

Vocalisations

Main call is a sharp zit zit or dzchit dzchit similar to White-throated Dipper. The song is a loud, rich warble which includes buzzing notes, trills and rattles.

Movements

Mostly resident with some seasonal down-slope movement.

References

Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Avibase
Wikipedia contributors. (2019, March 4). Brown dipper. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:02, April 17, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brown_dipper&oldid=886132509
BirdForum Member observations
Ormerod, S., Tyler, S. & Bonan, A. (2019). Brown Dipper (Cinclus pallasii). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/58088 on 11 April 2019).

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Brown Dipper. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 11 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Brown_Dipper

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