Water Ouzels

The St Mary's and Virginia Falls hike was our last tramp in Glacier National Park this summer.  It is a modest stroll, 3.6 miles round trip to the farther falls (Virginia) and extremely popular - we saw roughly 200 fellow hikers.  I wasn't expecting more than two pretty falls - and they were pretty - but a friendly hiker came up to me at the lower observation point below Virginia Falls and said there were American Dipper chicks being tended by their parents on a rock in the river.  I was vaguely aware of an intrepid bird that lived and swam in cold fast-moving mountain streams but never expected to see one.

If you look in the lower center of the picture above you can see the three chicks on the right side of the reddish-colored rock.  They confined their wanderings to this rock and the dead pine tree floating behind the rock.

The chicks  bobbed up and down every few seconds - I figured they were hungry in the ten minutes it took for their parents to show up.

I was expecting the adults to be bigger than the chicks but it turns out the chicks must have been almost fully grown - the one on the left is the parent.  The parents bobbed in the same fashion as their kids.

The chick didn't act pleased, probably because the adult had no food.

All the birds took a cavalier approach to the water.   I didn't see any of them swim but I'm sure the adults did after they flew off.

This is a parent with food.  You can see the blur of the chicks on the floating tree behind.

The chicks boldly walked down the wet floating tree.

Water Ouzel - a handle I expecially like - is another name for this bird.  According to the Internet, this species is the only member of its bird family in North and South America.   It is an indicator species - it requires clean water.

There are many flashier birds in the world but these lively and unique birds were special fun to watch.  They were my summer favorite.