• Order:   Passeriformes
• Family:  Certhianie
• Genus:  Certhia
• Species:  americana

Common Names:  Brown Creeper, Creeper

General Description/Identifying Characteristics: 

©National Audubon Society

Brown Creepers are small, long-winged, slender birds with a thin down-curved bill.  They are brown above, speckled and streaked with white, and rufous on the tail and rump.  There is a white line over the eye.  The tail is long, pointed and stiffened at the end for use as a prop when climbing.  The underparts are white.  In flight they show a conspicuous broad buffy band on the wings.  The male, at a length of about 5 and a half inches is considerably larger than the female, which is generally of a darker color, but otherwise similar.  When on the move, the Brown Creeper emits at short intervals a sharp, quick, rather grating note, peculiar to itself, which can be heard for up to sixty yards.  

Habitat: 

 Although they are primarily an inhabitant of northern coniferous forests, Brown Creepers can also occur anywhere there are large stands of dying timber, with the large peeling scales of bark that Creepers use to shelter their nests.  They have been known to move into areas where trees have died from diseases like the Dutch elm disease or from flooding.  Such opportunism may result in only temporary population increases, however, and in areas where extensive stands of timber have disappeared with logging, so have Brown Creepers.  The bird alights on trees of all kinds, in the pines of the Carolinas, in Maine on maples, in Kentucky on hickories, oaks, or ash-trees, and as, from the time it is first able to fly, it is one of the most constant roamers of the forest, you may meet with it in almost any part of the woods.

Diet:

Its food consists chiefly of ants, larvae, small insects, and particles of lichens.  In winter, they will occasionally come to residential feeders to feed on suet and some seeds, corn, acorns, and beechnuts. 

Nesting/Reproduction: 

A foundation for the nest of twigs and bark is built behind a loosened bark scale and extended up to close the open sides of the shelter so that the twig and bark base forms a crescent shape.  The nest is built entirely by the female, although the male may gather material for her to place.  Both sexes feed the fledglings, which are able to leave the nest and immediately cling to trees in about two weeks.

Geographical Distribution/Range: 

©www.shawcreekbirdsupply

The breeding range extends across North America in northern coniferous forests from southern Alaska to Newfoundland.  In the eastern U.S., south of the northern coniferous zone, they are less common, but occur locally along the eastern seaboard from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, south through the Appalachians, and throughout the Mississippi basin forests and cypress swamps.  In the west, they breed from Washington south along the coast to California,  and in the Rocky Mountains.  They also inhabit the Mexican highlands and as far south as northern Nicaragua. 

Interesting Facts: 

No other North American bird displays the combination of mottled plumage, down curved bill and distinctive upward creeping habits.  Brown plumage, streaked and spotted with buff, gray, and white perfectly camouflages Brown Creepers against a dark background of bark.  When threatened by a potential predator, they will freeze, often with outspread wings, and remain motionless for several minutes.  At such times they can be nearly invisible.

 

References used:  http://www.shawcreekbirdsupply.com, http://www.audubon.org, and http://www.birds.cornell.edu