It really must be spring because the dipper has started singing. They have a variety of songs, like a mockingbird.

You can hear a sample of the dipper's song on the Cornell University Ornithology Lab website.

Dippers, otherwise known as Water Ouzels, live along our mountain streams and dive underwater to look for food. They walk on the river bottom and move rocks to get at the bug larvae that live under them. Here is a video where you can see the bottom walking:



The ones that live here build their nest under the bridge. I've never seen it, but in later spring we can hear the young dippers calling to their parents as they come near with food. It should be a moss-covered dome. Water splashing from the river keeps the moss alive, and the inside is made of bark strips, leaves, and grass. If there wasn't a bridge, the nest would be along the riverbank or behind a waterfall. They start building them this time of year.