Brown Creeper Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  Brown Creepers are tiny yet lanky songbirds. They have long, spine-tipped tails, slim bodies, and slender, decurved bills.

  Relative Size

  Smaller than a White-breasted Nuthatch; larger than a Golden-crowned Kinglet.

  sparrow-sized or smaller

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 4.7-5.5 in (12-14 cm)
    • Weight: 0.2-0.3 oz (5-10 g)
    • Wingspan: 6.7-7.9 in (17-20 cm)
• Color Pattern

  Streaked brown and buff above, with their white underparts usually hidden against a tree trunk, Brown Creepers blend easily into bark. Their brownish heads show a broad, buffy stripe over the eye (supercilium).

• Behavior

  Brown Creepers search for small insects and spiders by hitching upward in a spiral around tree trunks and limbs. They move with short, jerky motions using their stiff tails for support. To move to a new tree, they fly weakly to its base and resume climbing up. Brown Creepers sing a high, warbling song; they also give a high, wavering call note that sounds similar to that of a Golden-crowned Kinglet.

• Habitat

  Brown Creepers breed primarily in mature evergreen or mixed evergreen-deciduous forests. You can find them at many elevations, even as high as 11,000 feet at treeline in the West. In the winter season, the species moves into a broader variety of forests and becomes much easier to find in deciduous woodlands.