Pallas's dipper
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Pallas's dipper ( Cinclus pallasii ) |
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| Temminck , 1820 |
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The Pallas dipper ( Cinclus pallasii ), often also river dipper , or brown dipper, is an East Asian representative of the dipper (Cinclidae). In the western part of its distribution area it occurs sympatric with the Eurasian dipper ( Cinclus cinclus ). Like all representatives of the Cinclidae, this species is also closely tied to life along fast-flowing, oxygen-rich waters.
Appearance
With a body length of 21–23 centimeters, the Pallas dipper is slightly larger than the Eurasian dipper, from which it can be easily distinguished. Colored individuals of both sexes are entirely dark chocolate brown; The back and chest often have a slightly warmer hue tending towards red, while the underside of the wings appears gray-brown. The iris is brown, the beak gray-black, the legs and toes are black-brown.
Young birds differ significantly in color: the dark, slate-gray-brown plumage is conspicuously light gray to whitish spotted on the head and throat, the feathers on the chest, belly and back are lined and spotted with whitish. The arm swings and control springs are lightly edged.
voice
The vocalizations of this kind are very difficult to distinguish from those of the Eurasian dipper. As with this, the main call is a garish Zit or Dsiit and the singing is a sequence of chirping and trilling phrases in which croaking elements and whistling tones are embedded.
distribution and habitat
The species is distributed from eastern Afghanistan to the east over the high mountain ranges of Central Asia to the Yellow Sea and north-east to Kamchatka . It breeds on most of the Kuril Islands , Sakhalin and the Japanese Islands . To the south it is a breeding bird in the northern states of India, in northern Myanmar and northern Thailand, and on Taiwan .
In this large area of distribution, the Pallas's dipper colonizes habitats along fast-flowing rivers and larger streams. It breeds in northern India and Nepal at altitudes well over 4000 meters, but in eastern Siberia and Japan also at sea level. Where it occurs together with Cinclus cinclus , it mostly inhabits lower river sections than these; In Uzbekistan , alternating breeding occurrences of both species were found on a stretch of river.
hikes
Most of the populations of this species are resident birds, which only leave their breeding area on a small scale under extremely unfavorable weather conditions, especially when their home waters freeze over. However, the birds that breed in northern China and eastern Siberia seem to regularly move south. Vertical migratory movements are also observed. However, nothing is known about train routes and train distances.
Food and subsistence
Like all other species of the Cinclidae, the Pallas's dipper feeds primarily on aquatic insects, small fish and fish eggs, crabs , snails and worms . In terms of quantity, insects predominate in their larval stage , especially those of mayflies , stoneflies and caddis flies . Insects from other orders such as butterflies , beetles or dragonflies are also captured on occasion .
The Pallas's dipper uses various hunting methods: prey animals are spotted through water peeps and captured by briefly immersing themselves, they are wading or swimming picked up from the surface of the water or detached by dives from stones or the bottom of the water. Pallas dipper pecking prey on the ground or chasing them in the air is less common. Energy-consuming diving is the most common method of obtaining food, especially in the pre-breeding season and when rearing young, as the relationship between energy expenditure and accessibility of the prey is favorable in late winter and spring. Outside of these times, most of the food is obtained by swimming and wading. Smaller food animals are swallowed immediately - even under water - while larger animals are brought ashore and processed there.
Breeding biology
Pallas's dipper mate seasonally; Reparations from last year's partners are likely to occur or even be frequent. The courtship period begins in the regional climatic late winter, in the low-lying breeding areas of northern India as early as December. Nest building and the start of laying take place depending on the geographical location and altitude, differently from February (India, Nepal), from the end of March to mid-April ( Kazakhstan ) to mid-May (northern Japan, northern China and Kamchatka). Nestlings were observed regionally until August; Second broods are the rule, at least in the more southern breeding areas.
Like Cinclus cinclus , the Pallas's dipper also builds extensive, spherical nests that consist of at least two, but mostly three layers made up of different materials. Both sexes build the nest, which is used several times at least for successive broods.
The 3–6 pure white eggs are incubated by the female alone in an average of 19 days. The nestling period is between 20 and 24 days; then the young birds are kept for up to 2 weeks.
Systematics
The Pallas's dipper is one of the five species of the monotypical genus Cinclus within the family Cinclidae; Occasionally this is also understood as a subfamily (Cinclinae) of the flycatcher (Muscicapidae). Two species are in Eurasia, one is in North America and two are native to South America. The relationship of the family is the subject of research. In the past, due to morphological and behavioral similarities, they were placed near the wrens (Troglodytidae), today they are more likely to be more closely related to the thrushes (Turdidae) and mockingbirds (Mimidae).
In addition to the nominate form described above, which occurs in East Asia, West China, North Thailand, North Vietnam and Japan, three other subspecies are described for the Pallas's dipper :
- C. p. tenuirostris Bonaparte , 1850 : This subspecies is lighter, paler chocolate brown than C. p. pallasii . It occurs in Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Uzbekistan and western Tibet .
- C. p. dorjei Kinnear , 1937 : Darker than C. p. tenuirostris with a slight shade of red, which is particularly evident in young birds. Birds of this subspecies breed in southeast Tibet, northern India, especially Assam , northern Myanmar and northern Thailand.
- C. p. marila Swinhoe , 1859 : Very similar to C. p. dorjei. The subspecies occurs only in a relatively small area in the Khasia Hills in the Indian state of Meghalaya .
Stock situation
Regionally, especially from Nepal, population declines are reported, caused by hydraulic engineering measures and deforestation. In large parts of its distribution area, however, the Pallas's dipper is not uncommon. The IUCN does not list them in any hazard level.
literature
- David Brewer and Barry Kent MacKay: Wrens, Dippers and Thrashers . Yale University Press New Haven and London 2001, ISBN 0-300-09059-5 , pp. 19, 62-63 and 202-203.
- Gerhard Creutz: The dipper . Neue Brehm Bücherei 364. A. Ziemsen Verlag, Wittenberg 1986, ISBN 3-7403-0008-6 .
- Kazuhiro Eguchi: The choice of foraging methods of the Brown Dipper, Cinclus pallasii (Aves: Cinclidae) . Journal of Ethology, Volume 8, Issue 2, December 1990, pp. 121-127.
- https://www.world-of-animals.de/wasseramsel.html
- Kamchatka: To the bears and volcanoes in northeast Siberia. P. 326 "List of species of birds".
- Otto Jost: On the ecology of the dipper (Cinclus cinclus) with special consideration of their diet. In: Bonn Zoological Monographs. No. 6, 1975, pp. 1-183, PDF on ZOBODAT .
Web links
- Cinclus pallasii inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2013.