BROWN BIRDS SEEN IN NORTH AMERICA

Brown Creeper 

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Certhia Americana 

Adults are brown on the upper parts with light spotting, resembling a piece of tree bark, with white underparts.

They have a long stiff tail used for support as the bird creeps upwards.

Males have a slightly larger bill than females.

BILL: long down-curved and dark with paler mandible.

SIZE: measures about 4.6 - 5.3 inches in length.

WEIGHT: weighs about 8.4 grams.

COLOR: brown, white and black.

Spiders, larvae and insects; nuts, seeds and some vegetable matters during winter.

Coniferous or mixed forests. It needs large trees, dead or alive, for nesting and foraging.

North America, from Canada and Alaska to Newfoundland, and southwards to northern Nicaragua.

CALL: Includes single very high pitched, short, often insistent, piercing calls; “see”, or “swee”.

SONG: Often has a cadence like; “pee pee willow wee” or “see tidle swee”, with notes similar to the calls.

NEST: A cup-shaped made with twigs, mosses, conifer needles and silk from spider webs.

It is built by the female, with the male bringing some nest materials.

EGGS: 3 - 7 white or creamy eggs, finely marked with small brown dots.

INCUBATION: 13 - 17 days, female fed by the male.

FLEDGLING PHASE:15 - 17 days.

They forage on tree trunks and branches, typically spiralling upwards from the bottom of a tree trunk, and then flying down to the bottom of another tree.

They creep slowly with their body flattened against the bark, probing with their beak for insects. They will rarely feed on the ground.

They mainly eat small arthropods found in the bark, but sometimes they will eat seeds in winter.

The oldest Brown Creeper on record was at least 5 years, 5 months old.

SOURCES: https://www.birds-of-north-america.net

                   https://en.wikipedia.org

                   https://www.allaboutbirds.org

                   http://www.oiseaux-birds.com