{"id":1990,"date":"2019-10-09T01:22:43","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T01:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/biol325\/?p=1990"},"modified":"2019-11-29T20:43:39","modified_gmt":"2019-11-29T20:43:39","slug":"the-creepiest-bird-in-north-america-the-brown-creeper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/biol325\/2019\/10\/09\/the-creepiest-bird-in-north-america-the-brown-creeper\/","title":{"rendered":"The Creepiest Bird in North America: the Brown Creeper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Let this little bird creep its way into your heart.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Part one: Introducing the Brown Creeper.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\n\nThe Brown Creeper (Certhia americana), also known as the American treecreeper, is a small songbird found primarily in large forests throughout Canada and the United States (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2017<\/a>). The Brown Creeper is from the order Passeriformes and the family Certhiidae. Adult Brown Creepers have an average body length of 5.25 inches, a wingspan of 7.75 inches, and a body weight of 8.4 grams (Sibley, 320).
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Range Map for Brown Creeper’s (<\/em>Map from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology<\/a>) <\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\nThe ideal habitat for a Brown Creeper is a damp, shady forest with large, loose-barked trees for catching prey and nesting. These birds like to nest in the biggest trees that they can find. Dead or dying trees are the most appealing to a Brown Creeper because they like to build hammock-like nests under the detaching bark. In the summer months they tend to live in coniferous forests, while in the winter months they expand their habitat preference to deciduous forests, orchards, and parks. Brown Creepers are dispersed all over the United States as well as in all the Canadian provinces along the US border. They have been reported to be seen in Central America year round, but they are most abundant in North America. In the winter months, Brown Creepers that live in high altitudes and Northern populations will migrate South for a short distance (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2017<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you know that Brown Creepers are the only treecreepers that are found in North America?\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Brown Creeper At Nest is a photograph by Damon Calderwood (<\/em>fineartamerica<\/a>)<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The nests are built by male and female creepers; The females assemble the nest over the course of a few weeks while the male goes out and gets nesting material. Some of the materials used are mosses and lichens, feathers and hair, wood pieces, leaves and grass, and spider egg cases. Nests are built at many different heights, but they do not usually exceed 40 feet in the air. The Brown Creeper nest is around 2.5 inches deep and 6 inches wide which is good for holding eggs. The size of a Brown Creeper egg is 1.5 cm by 1.2 cm (length by width). The breeding season of these little birds is normally between April and July. Female creepers can lay up to 6 eggs which have an incubation period of 13-17 days. Once hatched, the babies stay in the nest for 14-20 days before they will start to go off on their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A risk to the nests of brown creepers are different types of squirrels and mice that may destroy the nest if they come across it (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2017<\/a>). Some common predators to the Brown Creeper are squirrels, deer mice, wood rats, and domestic cats (Animal Diversity Web<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A hatch year Brown Creeper caught while bird banding in Nanaimo, September 2019. (Photo courtesy of Samuelle Simard-Proven\u00e7al)<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\nBrown Creepers are insectivores who find their food by flying to the base of a tree and start creeping up by using their long curved claws to hold onto the bark. While climbing, they use their downward curved beak to reach into the bark to eat many different insects including beetles, spiders, and ants. When a predator is near, Brown Creepers immediately stop moving and making any sounds as they press their undersides to the bark and rely on their camouflage to avoid being detected (The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2017<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you know that by eating one single spider, a Brown Creeper gets enough energy to climb approximately 200 feet vertically? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown Creepers are small brown birds with primarily white undersides. Some good characteristics to help identify a Brown Creeper are the long claws on the toes, the downward turned bill, and the mottled brown back that helps the creepers to blend into the bark of the tree they are creeping on. Brown Creepers also have a light, bold band on the tops and bottoms of their wings, as well as a light lateral crown stripe above their eyes. There are three different color variations for the Brown Creepers; the first being the classic light brown, mottled back we see in the Northern and Eastern plumage. In the Western plumage they have a more grey back, but they still have the white throat and underside. The third color variation is the Mexican plumage which is seen more in the Creepers down in Central America. The Mexican variation is a lot darker with a reddish-brown rump and a grey breast rather than the white breast we see in the other two variations (Sibley, 320). Male and female Brown Creepers look very similar, but one characteristic that can be helpful to determine the sex of these birds is to look at the length of the curved bill. The males tend to have a longer bill by around 1-2 mm (Animal Diversity Web<\/a>). Here on Vancouver Island, we primarily see the Northern plumage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An adult Brown Creeper (Northern coloration) caught while bird banding in Nanaimo, September 2019.<\/em>
Notice the long claws that they use to hold onto tree bark while creeping for food. (Photo courtesy of Samuelle Simard-Proven\u00e7al)<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Brown Creeper with the Western coloration (grey). Photo by Ron Kube. (<\/em>Birds of North America<\/a>)<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n