Here we go again!

It’s been a quiet few months here on The Dipper Diaries—at least on the writing side. Out in the field, though, we’ve been anything but idle. Once our American dippers wrapped up their 2025 breeding season, we rolled right into fall maintenance mode: cleaning out every nest box and replacing the boxes that weren’t looking so hot (a few looked like they’d lived very exciting lives…)

All that prep is already paying off.

Today—March 31st—we headed out for our first field excursion of 2026, and the have birds wasted no time kicking things off. We checked 13 sites along Spearfish creek and already have six active nests with eggs and three additional nests under construction.

It’s shaping up to be an early, energetic start to the

season, and I’m excited to bring you along as things unfold. You can hopefully expect more frequent updates now that we’re officially back in the water (sometimes literally).

Here’s to another year of cold streams, muddy field notebooks, and the endlessly fascinating lives of these unique and beautiful birds.

Stay tuned—there’s so much more to come.