[SBB] Copulating Dippers on Los Gatos creek

[Lisa Myers <[[email protected]]>]

Hey to all -

 

Once again parking on the Main Street bridge in Los Gatos we walked the Los Gatos Creek Trail toward Lexington Reservoir to see if we could find any signs of nesting dippers.  We spotted our first dipper in the same area we saw them last time

(up past the first park bench near the large boulders situation at the water's edge).

 

Its not easy to see down into the creek from the trail (too many trees in the way) but birders find a way. We also worked our way down to the water's edge to look for any signs of a nest.  With no nest in sight we continued up the trail.  Again a dipper flew into view, but no nest was visible.

 

We continued to walk up the trail with highway 17 on our right.  We soon found two dippers sharing the same rock.  Then the two dippers actually copulated.  This area also had the most evidence of dipper white wash on top of the rocks and debris.  So it looked as if the dippers were spending time in this section of the creek.

 

We again tried to find evidence of any nesting but could not. Several corners and bends along the creek make much of the creek impossible to view.

 

With all this rain the water was rushing very quickly. Dead fish were scattered all along the creek.  The fish were 2 - 4 inches long, slender and silver. With the raging water maybe they drowned? Didn't know a fish could do that. We watched the dippers picking up the small dead fish in their bills and banging them on the rocks as if to break them apart.  Then they would swallow the smaller bits. A pair of Common Mergansers were also enjoying the easy to catch dead fish.

 

It was raining throughout our walk and we ran into some incredibly large Banana Slugs. Other than the dippers, a few Northern Rough Wing Swallows, Mallards and some Dark Eyed Juncos were the only birds making an appearance along the creek trail.

 

Lisa Myers

 

 

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