dipper

or water ouzel

Any of five songbird species in the genus Cinclus (family Cinclidae), noted for hunting insects by walking underwater in rushing streams. The species are widely distributed in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North and South America. Dippers are plump, stub-tailed birds, about 7 in. (18 cm) long, with a thrushlike bill and legs. They are commonly blackish brown or dull gray. They nest in a dome of moss built in a crevice, often behind a waterfall. Seealso ouzel.

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or ousel

Species (Turdus torquatus) of songbird in the thrush family, characterized by a white crescent on the breast. A blackish bird, about 10 in. (25 cm) long, it breeds locally in uplands from Britain and Norway to the Middle East. The name was formerly applied to a closely related European blackbird (T. merula). The dipper is often called water ouzel.

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Ouzel or Ousel may be:

Birds

• Ouzel (also ousel or wosel), an old and now rarely used name for the Blackbird, a species of thrush, all-black in the male
• Ring Ouzel, a thrush related to the Blackbird, black in the male with a white crescent on the chest
• Water Ouzel, an alternative name for the White-throated Dipper, a dark waterside bird with a white throat, superficially like a thrush though not closely related
• Water Ouzel, an alternative name for the American Dipper, a stocky dark-grey waterside bird

Other

• Ouzel Galley, an Irish merchant ship that mysteriously disappeared for three years
• River Ouzel, a river in England that is a tributary of the Great Ouse

See also

• Woozle