Taking a dip: Dipper exhibits in zoos

[DavidBrown]

Dippers are birds with the unusual behavior of walking on the bottom of rushing streams to look for invertebrates and other foods.

Has any zoo ever successfully designed an exhibit for this species where they can display this behavior?

In doing a search on the site I found Maguari make reference to a dipper aviary in the Alpenzoo in Austria. Does it have underwater viewing and do the dippers actually dip?

Do any American zoos have American dipper exhibits? This seems like it could be an interesting design challenge.

 

[reduakari]

Dippers are birds with the unusual behavior of walking on the bottom of rushing streams to look for invertebrates and other foods.

Has any zoo ever successfully designed an exhibit for this species where they can display this behavior?

In doing a search on the site I found Maguari make reference to a dipper aviary in the Alpenzoo in Austria. Does it have underwater viewing and do the dippers actually dip?

Do any American zoos have American dipper exhibits? This seems like it could be an interesting design challenge.

Oregon Zoo's Cascades Exhibit, opened in the early 1980s, featured a nice (but small) water ouzel exhibit with underwater viewing, directly adjacemt to the river otter habitat. I think it is still there, but now houses Pacific pond turtles. It's been decades since dippers were exhibited there.

 

[DeydraOZ]

I had no idea the Oregon zoo had dippers! That's a neat little tidbit.

Grizzly & Wolf Discovery center has plans to build a riparian habitat that will include river otters, trout, toads and the dipper.
It may be a few years before you'll see them there as I think they still need a bit more funding for it.