How to Identify aBrown Creeper
Certhia americana · 4.7–5.5 in (12–14 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Mottled brown and buff above, silvery-white below, with a fine downcurved bill. Sexes look alike.
Female
Identical to the male in the field.
Male photo: Chuck Homler, Focus On Wildlife / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Second photo: Badjoby / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Field marks
- Streaked brown upperparts that match tree bark closely
- Clean silvery-white underparts
- Thin, downcurved bill
- Stiff pointed tail braced against the trunk
Similar species
What it sounds like
A very high, thin "tseee" easily missed, and a soft warbled song that trails downward.
Behaviour that gives it away
Lands low on a trunk, spirals upward to the top, then drops to the base of the next tree and starts again — a pattern that identifies it at any distance.
Habitat & range
Mature forest with large trees across much of North America, moving into wooded yards and parks in winter.
When you'll see it
Depending on where in North America you are, it is present all year and a winter visitor.
What it eats
Insects and spiders gleaned from bark crevices; occasionally suet in winter.
Did you know?
It nests behind loose slabs of bark still attached to a dead tree, building a hammock-shaped nest in the narrow gap.
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