Checked the Dippers this week & happy to report breeding is well under way with frequent visits to the nest, usually with healthy looking beakfulls. Much more water in the river this year and so I saw them swimming for the first time as it is too deep for them to walk into the water from a stony perch.
Dipper - cinclus cinclus
I did notice something odd about one of the pair however and this cropped image shows that it has lost all of the crown feathers. I doubt this is natural moulting, looks like the result og some serious abrasion, or a disease perhaps. Anyway it appears to be otherwise ok.
Dipper with missing head feathers
We popped into the Charca for a quick look. Not a great deal of activity there. One resident White Stork, a few Common Sandpipers, a Redshank, lots of Little Egrets roosting on the island and two Little Bitterns on Laguna del Tarage.Lots of Red-knobbed Coot chicks already, they have already had a successful breeding season.
Red-knobbed Coot with chick
