Brown Creeper

Certhia americana

Spirals up tree trunks looking for bugs, then drops to the next tree to start over. Single-direction commuter.

Population: ~11 million global breeding individuals (Partners in Flight estimate, via Cornell Lab); range-wide trend stable to slightly increasing 1966-2019, with regional declines in parts of the interior US
Habitat: Mature and old-growth coniferous, deciduous, and mixed forests with large-diameter trees and deeply furrowed or loose/peeling bark for foraging and nesting; also uses parks and wooded suburban areas in winter
Fun fact: Brown Creepers forage by spiraling up a tree trunk probing bark with their thin, downcurved bill, then fly to the base of a neighboring tree to start the climb again, and build hammock-shaped nests tucked behind slabs of peeling bark rather than in cavities.
Range: North America — breeds across Canada, Alaska, the western U.S. mountains, and the northeastern/upper midwestern U.S., extending into highland Mexico/Central America; resident year-round through much of the range, with northern and high-elevation populations withdrawing southward or downslope in winter
Diet: Small arthropods (insects, spiders, insect eggs and larvae) gleaned from bark crevices while spiraling up tree trunks; supplements with seeds and suet, occasionally sap, in winter
Size: 0.135 m
Wingspan: 0.185 m
Lifespan: 5.4 years

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