Field Notes: BROWN CREEPER
Brown Creeper seen from the side. The white underside makes it easier to see. Notice the curved bill.
Brown Creeper from the back. Notice how well it blends in with the bark of the tree.
Brown Creeper are small birds similar in shape and size to nuthatches, but with a slightly curved bill. They have a white chest and a brown back that serves as very good camouflage when they are moving up a tree. Unlike nuthatches, which tend to move down a tree head first, the Brown Creeper starts at the base of the tree and moves up. When it reaches the top it flies back down to the bottom of a tree and starts over again.
My first Brown Creepers were pointed out to me by others. They can be easy birds to overlook if you don’t know to look for them. They are quiet and blend into the tree very well when seen from the back. From the side they can be easier to spot, as seen in these photos. This Brown Creeper was scaling trees very close to a set of bird feeders at a nature park. The feeders were attracting many different species, but the Brown Creeper didn’t seem interested in the feeders, sticking instead to the insects it could in the bark of the trees.