Remember my earlier post Around The Corner about the dipper birds that walk underwater looking for food?

Our nesting pair has been working on their nest and singing about it every morning. The other day I went under the bridge to see what it looks like. Sure enough, just like the book said, it is a mossy dome.



I'm claustrophobic so it took a certain amount of courage for me to go under there, and I still get a shiver looking at the picture and thinking about it. But I feel a little braver for having done it. That's the therapy for phobias, isn't it? Dare to do it and realize it didn't kill us.

Maybe there is something to it, because yesterday I was seriously thinking about crossing the river on the remaining ice to see what the view would be from the other side.



We can't get there in the summer because it's too deep and swift to wade through the water, and inaccessible by land. But it's been so warm lately, the ice isn't really strong enough to trust walking on it. Even thinking about it was an adventure.

Where most of the ice is gone, we can see how low the river is, revealing all the rocks. Standing on the bridge I can see a few fish, and they will be spawning soon. After last year's big snow melt, I hope they get a chance to rest and regroup this year and have lots of babies.