The dipper is my absolute favorite bird and she represents everything I want to embody.
I first met her in Mineral King, watching her happily bounce, swim, hop, fly and...my favorite...lightly dance and jive her way up the river - all while singing the loveliest of songs. Most times she's alone and other times with her love, but always enjoying every moment she's in. She's naturally shy and a homebody at heart, but at the same time sings loudly and loves to travel. She has thick skin to handle the cold but loves the warmth of summer, has a delicate beauty and long thin legs - what more would a girl want? The men even love her...
"I have been making the acquaintance of a very interesting little bird that flits about the falls and rapids of the main branches of the river. It is not a water-bird in structure, though it gets its living in the water, and never leaves the streams. It's not web footed, yet it dives fearlessly into deep swirling rapids...what a romantic life this little bird leads on the most beautiful portions of the streams, in a genial climate with shade and cool water to temper the summer heat. No wonder its a fine singer considering the stream songs it hears day and night. Every breath the little poet draws is part of a song... Among all the mountain birds, none has cheered me so much in my lonely wanderings, —none so unfailingly. For both in winter and summer he sings, sweetly, cheerily, independent alike of sunshine and of love, requiring no other inspiration than the stream on which he dwells." - John Muir
Yes, what a romantic life.
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