White-throated dipper; Mirlo acuático europeo

Description:

Aquatic passerine bird, only Europe member of the Cinclidae family. The white-throated dipper is a stout, dark-colored bird, with a white bib and a short tail, moving quickly on the rocks of rivers and streams of clean water, with a fairly regular flow. It can walk and swim underwater flapping the wings as if flying and looks for the invertebrates of which it feeds, especially insects, removing the pebbles from the bottom with the legs. It is a sedentary bird that, pushed by the cold and the ice, sometimes makes short displacements towards the lower parts of the rivers. The Cinclidae family are the only passerines that, because of the adaptations they present, can be considered really aquatic, because they have a dense plumage that is waterproof, lubricated with the secretions of a gland (uropygial gland), they can close the nasal openings and the auditory ones, and they have the surface of the eyes flat like that of a diving goggles.

Habitat:

Mountain river. Parque Natural de Saja-Besaya

Notes:

Camera Model: NIKON D300. Exposure Time: 1/400 sec.; f/10; ISO Speed Rating: 800. Focal Length: 300.0 mm. Exposure Bias 0 EV. No flash fired