How many Dipppers are there actually?

[Premise1]

Why is it I can see 4 dippers in the Northern Hemisphere skies during January?

I see a perfect 7 star dipper to the north east
On March 31st 2010 at 9PM PST I witnessed 2 shooting stars phenomena
One star came shooting from the north east between the handle and the pot side and bottom. As the star entered the middle of the pot it actually hit another object which went flying out the mouth of the pot heading straight out west. It was literally a 90`angle collision. I was sitting at a zenith position. It was amazing

There is one that seems to have a "lid/crown"
and a large one with the small dipper inside it.

What are the actual dipper coordinates? And how many dippers are there?

[BMAONE23]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursa_Major
Ursa Major, or the great bear, is the constellation containing the big dipper. The cup is the body of the bear and the 3 stars of the handle make the tail. That's right, the great sky bears have long tails. Polaris, the north star, is the tip of the lesser bear's long tail in the constellation Ursa Minor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursa_Minor. Here is a list of the 88 constellationshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_constellations. Though it isn't a dipper, many people confuse the pleiades in the constellation Taurus as the little dipper. But Ursas Major and Minor in the northern sky are the only "Dippers" by name

[Nitpicker]

As many dippers as you can see. Only constellation boundaries are official, and only since the IAU made them official last century. Asterisms are limited only by your imagination. We don't see too many dippers in the southern sky, but Orion's belt and dagger are often referred to as The Saucepan in these parts.

[Beyond]

As many dippers as you can see. Only constellation boundaries are official, and only since the IAU made them official last century. Asterisms are limited only by your imagination. We don't see too many dippers in the southern sky, but Orion's belt and dagger are often referred to as The Saucepan in these parts.

I used to call it a kite, the sword being the tail of the kite. I also used to call the Pleiades a scoop. I also used to think the little dipper was a southern hemisphere thing. But at least I've never-ever mistaken the big dipper.

[neufer]

• Essential Randomness

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Clive Bramham Clive, Sep 30, 2012

<<Dipper (Cinclus cinclus; Fossekall) - the world's only aquatic songbird - at a beautiful waterfall in Bergen, Norway. The bird gathers nesting material (moss) to make its nest behind a wall of water. Closeups of bird foraging food (invertebrates and minnows) for nestlings a few weeks later. Dippers swim under water and have long claws for gripping the rocks as they walk on the river bottom, often against the current. In the slo-mo sequence, note the feathered white eyelid. The bird also has a transparent, third eyelid called the nictitating membrane that serves to moistens the eye and can be closed when the bird is foraging. Voted as the national bird of Norway in 1963, the "Fossekall" is a much beloved bird known by more than 70 local names across the country. Fossekall means "call of the waterfall". The bubbling song of the Fossekall is most often heard in late winter, before the spring melt. The shots of the bird gathering moss are from March 24, around the time of peak runoff. The opening vista is from Lysehorn mountain (on the trail toward Svartevatnet), looking some 35 km southeast to Folgafonna glacier National Park.>>

[BDanielMayfield]

<<Dipper (Cinclus cinclus; Fossekall) - the world's only aquatic songbird -

I beg to dipper, er, I mean differ.

That is not the only species of dipper, there are four more in the worldwide world. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dippers

Bruce

[geckzilla]

And yet, right there in the Wiki article it states again:

They are unique among passerines for their ability to dive and swim underwater.

[BDanielMayfield]

And yet, right there in the Wiki article it states again:

They are unique among passerines for their ability to dive and swim underwater.

I wouldn’t fault the wiki statement though. Note that it was about “Dippers,” plural, and the statement used the plural “they,” speaking of the several species of dippers, while the statement Art quoted sited just a single species.

The Dippers are the only genus of diving songbirds. But I don’t think they sing underwater. Or maybe they do? I wonder.

I only knew that the dipper Art showed us wasn’t the only species because my other hobby (in very distant second place to astronomy) is birding, and I would dearly love to add the American Dipper to my life list. But there aren’t many fast flowing clear alpine streams in Texas.

There used to be a sixth dipper species, but one has gone extinct.

Bruce

[geckzilla]

I think the article was referring to both dippers in general and the one from the video in particular. It was a bit awkwardly shortened so that became a bit unclear but to any birder it's obvious. Did you know Art is also a birder? It's one of his secrets.

[BDanielMayfield]

Did you know Art is also a birder? It's one of his secrets.

NO, I didn't know that! Ah, then I suspect the willy one knew that there was a misstatement as to the number of Dippers in the item he posted, and he was fishing birding to see if someone else would catch the number of Dippers error.

Art, no need to keep it secret. Real Men Bird too.

Bruce

[Beyond]

I think the article was referring to both dippers in general and the one from the video in particular. It was a bit awkwardly shortened so that became a bit unclear but to any birder it's obvious. Did you know Art is also a birder? It's one of his secrets.

Art has secrets