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Brown Creeper

Status Fairly common resident. Breeds. Its numbers fluctuate somewhat from year to year. Distribution seems to be fairly even throughout woodland areas and it is seldom seen elsewhere. Occasionally in late fall or winter a wanderer appears at a feeding station in town or village, attracted by suet. Migratory movements do occur within its range, both in spring and fall. Ninety were counted on Seal Island on 21 April 1973 and Flocks of 7-25 were passing through Seal Island daily on 13-23 October 1980.

Description Length: 12.5-13.5 cm. Adults: Upperparts brown, streaked with white and buff; tail rather long, with feathers stiff and sharply pointed; a partly hidden white area in wing; bill disproportionately long and curved; underparts white.

Breeding Nest: Made of twigs, moss, wood fibre, strips of bark, hair and sometimes a few feathers, and placed under and ingeniously fastened to an apron-like slab of dead bark hanging at a low height from stumps of fir or spruce in damp coniferous woods. Eggs: 4-8, usually 6; white, spotted with cinnamon-brown, heavier around the larger end. Laying begins about the first week in May. On 18 May 1927 two nests were found in Kings County: one at Albany held six fresh eggs, and the other, found by Austin L. Rand at Gaspereau, contained six slightly incubated eggs. The Albany nest was typically constructed and placed about 3 m up under a slab of hanging bark on a dead spruce stump in damp, mossy woods; the female was incubating, and it was the persistent singing of the male in the immediate vicinity of the nest that led to its discovery.

Range Breeds from southeastern Alaska, the central Prairie Provinces, central Ontario, southern Quebec, and Newfoundland, south to the southern Appalachian Mountains and eastern Nebraska, and in the western mountains to Central America. Winters from southern Canada southward.

Remarks This slender bird with a mottled brown back blends well with the bark over which it climbs in the course of its daily routine. When feeding, Brown Creepers have a characteristic habit of starting at the base of a tree and working upward, always going around and around as though ascending a spiral staircase. When the desired height is reached, they suddenly drop to the bottom of another tree nearby and start their diligent quest for food all over again.