Cinclus cinclus
Silhouette: Beth Reinke · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The white-throated dipper (Cinclus cinclus), also known as the European dipper or just dipper, is an aquatic, passerine bird found in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. The species is divided into several subspecies, based primarily on colour differences, particularly of the pectoral band.
The white-throated dipper was described in 1758 by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Sturnus cinclus. The current genus Cinclus was introduced by German naturalist Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen in 1797. The name cinclus is from the Ancient Greek word kinklos that was used to describe small, tail-wagging birds that resided near water. Of the five species now placed in the genus, a molecular genetic study has shown that the white-throated dipper is most closely related to the other Eurasian species, the brown dipper (Cinclus pallasii).
The 14 subspecies, including one now extinct (with †) are: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Plitvice Lakes National Park | 🇭🇷 Croatia | |
| 3 | Tatra National Park | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | |
| 4 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 5 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 7 | Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 8 | Picos de Europa National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Jiuzhaigou National Park | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 10 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 11 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 12 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 13 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 14 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 15 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 16 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 17 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 18 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 19 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Almaty | 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan | |
| 2 | Turin | 🇮🇹 Italy | |
| 3 | Dublin | 🇮🇪 Ireland | |
| 4 | Yekaterinburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 5 | Munich | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Yerevan | 🇦🇲 Armenia | |
| 7 | Sofia | 🇧🇬 Bulgaria | |
| 8 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 9 | Prague | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 10 | Cologne | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alpenzoo Innsbruck | 🇦🇹 Austria |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a White-throated Dipper sighting in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, based on 39 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 107th most-seen of the 153 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April–May, September and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-throated Dipper in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June–August, October and December–March, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-throated Dipper sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
17th of 19
Of the 19 parks where we can rate White-throated Dipper sightings, Sierra Nevada National Park ranks 17th at under 5%. The best odds are in Aigüestortes National Park (Spain, about 30%), Plitvice Lakes National Park (Croatia, about 20%) and Tatra National Park (Slovakia, about 20%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the White-throated Dipper that you can see in Sierra Nevada National Park (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Eurasian Blackbird (about 80%), Chaffinch (about 70%) and Great Tit (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-throated Dipper is recorded against all the birds logged in Sierra Nevada National Park (39 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
