White-throated dipper / Wasseramsel (Cinclus cinclus)

Wikipedia eBird Vogelwarte BirdLife ZH ornitho.ch bird-song.ch Xeno-Canto BirdID NABU

Wikipedia - Cinclus cinclus, Wasseramsel. Source: WIKIPEDIA Wikipedia - Cinclus_cinclus, Wasseramsel.jpg
Classification: Genus Cinclus; Family Cinclidae
I saw a bird in Meride on a tree limb that showed three bands of strong colors that I recall as black, white and red-brown. Unfortunately I discovered that my camera battery was dead, so I can only rely on a very shaky memory. I've speculatively identified it as a White-throated Dipper (German Wasseramsel), which are present in that area, though are most expected at water (there's a river nearby though). At least I'll have this bird on my radar now.
Expected near rivers and streams.
Song: Song a mid tempo, staccato improvisation on contact call-like sounds. Not unlike a budgerigar. Both sexes sing, the female less melodic and more staccato than the male. [Link]
Calls: Contact call a short, metallic and explosive "zrreet", often betraying its presence perched among boulders or when flying up and down a stream. [Link]
Physical details: length=18 cm, wingspan=25-30 cm, weight=49-84 g
Habitats: Wetland

Song: Wonderfully weird sequence of chirps, cheeps, growls. Elements often repeated twice. In a quiz, I mistook it for a starling. This recording reminds me of other water songbirds like the Marsh warbler and various reed warblers.
Song attributes: Melody: improvised melodic, fast, Frequency: 1-7 KHz Special sounds: rasp, weird
Call: Chirp repeated 1-2s.
Call attributes: Call melody: one note, slow, Frequency: 4-7 KHz,
🔍 No documented observation

Media


Song recorded in Bern from Xeno-Canto Wonderfully weird sequence of chirps, cheeps, growls with repeated elements. Source: XENOCANTO XC512901-Wasseramsel.mp3 (song)


Call recorded in Sweden from Xeno-Canto Sequence of monotone chirps. At XC it says wing flutter is also audible. Source: XENOCANTO XC528686-Wasseramsel call.mp3 (flight call)