The Story
I made this photo of a White-capped Dipper (Cinclus leucocephalus) at the Otún Quimbaya Flora and Fauna Sanctuary near Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia. The White-capped Dipper forages alone or in pairs along streams, wading, swimming and walking on submerged rocks. Unlike other dippers it does not dive, but dips its head underwater to catch prey. Its domed nest of moss and rootlets has a side entrance and is built above the water. The sanctuary holds a great diversity of birds, butterflies and small mammals, and wax palms grow on its slopes. IUCN lists the White-capped Dipper as Least Concern, with a stable population.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 8000. From 2009 to 2020 the community association Yarumo Blanco, made up of people from La Florida, ran the sanctuary’s ecotourism, and in 2014 it won Colombia’s National Sustainable Tourism Award for benefits to local communities.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The White-capped Dipper (Cinclus leucocephalus) belongs to the family Cinclidae (Dippers) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2024), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List