http://www.cachevalleydaily.com/news/archive/2019/12/11/dwr-eyes-six-sites-along-the-bear-river-for-future-dams/?fbclid=IwAR0SwOk-CSTJeGF3-nrn2tzNJVmObX1JMQu7WWs7SyeKhhZUa2MQOPkxmd4#.XfKgHmRKhPa
Among many other wonderful qualities, the upper Logan river has what is probably the largest density of American dippers in Utah, and I would even say, one of the largest dipper populations in North America.
We observed the "high count" of dippers in Utah, recorded on ebird anyway, on the upper Logan river, on June 2 2018. 25 was a conservative number. The previous weekend I think we saw about 35 dippers on the same stretch of river, but I underestimated at 20. At the time I did not occur to me that it was potentially a high count for the state.
https://ebird.org/checklist/S46254837
Here is something I wrote about kayaking and dippers on July 28, 2018. I thought I would get back to the Logan river and try to get a more comprehensive count of dippers, but I did not get a chance to paddle the more difficult "upper Logan" this spring (2019). Maybe next year :-). I believe it would be very possible to get a high count for the lower 48 (over 41), and possibly for all of the United States (the Alaska high count is 53). Getting a high count for North America would be more difficult (149+), but not out of the question. In any case, now that the area is potentially threatened by a dam, I would like to make more people aware of the extraordinary numbers of dippers in the exact area of this proposed dam.
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July 28, 2018
We regularly see a few dippers when whitewater kayaking, and 5 or 6 dippers are not uncommon when kayaking a few river miles on a river with clean cold water such as the Ogden, South fork Ogden, Provo or Logan. On May 20 2018, we paddled only one mile of the South fork Ogden, and saw 6 or 7 dippers, as well as a neat moss nest. That was the highest density of dippers I had seen in one mile of river since I started ebirding, 1.5 years ago. Before that I didn't think to count dippers, as I didn't know it was considered unusual to see more than a few.
On Saturday May 26, my girlfriend Kris and I paddled 9.5 miles of the upper Logan river, along with some other friends, from a quarter mile above Ricks Spring to Preston Valley campground. I estimated very conservatively, 20 dippers. We probably saw closer to 35, but I wasn't too focused on counting them, since I was paddling some fairly difficult rapids in a two person kayak for the first time. That's about 2 dippers per river mile; to give a better idea of the density. (a number of 35 would be 3.6 dippers per mile).
On June 2, we kayaked the Logan river again, starting a quarter mile lower, and only going 5 miles, from 200 yards below Ricks Spring to Woodcamp campground. I tried for a more accurate count, generally only counting a bird if it flew past us to the upstream. If the bird flies downstream, we will probably see it again (although its possible it will duck into the brush and go uncounted). We had 25 dippers in 5 miles. That is about 5 dippers per mile, which more accurately reflects the density of dippers on the upper Logan. This speaks well of the water quality and undisturbed nature of the upper Logan river.
As the entire Logan river is over 30 miles, with relatively clean cold water, with a number of smaller tributaries that are too small to kayak, the dipper population in this watershed must be well over 100.
I am not sure why some rivers in Idaho we kayak frequently, like the South Fork Payette, do not have observable numbers of dippers like this. We might see only a couple dippers in 5 miles on the SF Payette, and a few spotted sandpipers, which seem to have a similar ecological niche.
I noticed recently that 25 was the high count for dippers in Utah on eBird.org, and also higher than most western states, except Alaska, Colorado, and Oregon. This is surprising to me, and may be due in part to the difficulty of counting dippers while on foot; as well as a lack of ebirders who are kayakers or rafters. The upper Logan in particular is a relatively small creek that is too tight for larger rafts, and it has some relatively difficult class 4 rapids, so it is mostly the domain of hardshell kayakers. However the "wilderness loop" is easier class 2-3, and we did take a two person inflatable kayak down it. This area has a very high concentration of dippers.
Checking the other states in the dipper's range, 25 is higher than any one ebird checklist in California, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, or Nevada.
Higher counts have been seen in British Columbia, Alaska, Alberta, Colorado, and Oregon, sometimes during Christmas bird counts (Alaska and Alberta).
Dipper high counts by state or province:
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The all time high count for dippers in North America was in British Columbia, Dec 29 2002, 149 dippers. Not much other data is available on that checklist (no time, distance, or river miles covered). The map indicates Fraser River. From the date, I suppose this is a historical Christmas bird count list.
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S20425224
Alaska: 53 in 2006, Little Susitna River, "This report is part of my Christmas Bird count area. Warmer early winter this year caused much more open water with dippers appearing nearly every 200 yards." 8 miles is the given distance; which averages 6.6 dippers per mile.
The high count for dippers in Colorado was 41 in 2009, from the map, this looks like St Vrain Creek near Lyons. No distance given, but duration is 8 hours 30 minutes. "The reason we hiked all this way in the creek was to look for dipper[s]."
The high count for dippers in Oregon was 34 in 1995 on the Upper McKenzie River, Lane County, Oregon, US.
16 miles, this is 2.1 dippers per mile.
Alberta Canada: 32, another Christmas bird count, Dec 27 2013, Crowsnest Pass, total of 5 groups of birders.
California: 24 in 2004, Merced River; "birds noted while walking the river" for a 3 mile section. This is 8 dippers per mile, the highest density per mile I noticed.
Washington: 24 in 2015, White Salmon river, "rafting on the White Salmon River from BZ to the Columbia River (13 river miles over 4.5 hours). This is a bit less than 2 dippers per mile.
Montana: 20 in 2016, Smith river, floated 15 miles. 1.3 dippers/mile.
Idaho: 20 in 2010, Bruneau river, 40.999 miles (?), in 8 hours; this distance does not seem accurate for 8 hours of boating.
Wyoming: 19 in 2014, two rivers surveyed, Gardner and Soda Butte Creek. 7 hours 30 min, 100 miles. River miles not given.
New Mexico: 12 in 1989, Chama River, rafting trip, 6.0 miles, 2 dippers per mile.
Nevada: 6 in 2015, Truckee River.
Arizona: 6 in 2016, this was two parents feeding 4 nestlings.
Utah high count before 2018:
By hiding my checklists temporarily, I saw that the previous high count for dippers in Utah was 18, in 16 river miles, in the Zion Narrows of the North Fork Virgin river. About 1.1 per mile.
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S18530273, Fri May 23, 2014 7:30 AM.
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Cheers,
Bill Hunt
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