Male

Description

Size: 5.25”

Plumage/Description:
Male and female plumage similar. Long, thin curved bill for probing in bark. White throat, breast and belly, with buffy under-tail coverts. Head, back, and wings are brown with a lot of white speckling and streaking. Extremely well camouflaged and difficult to see.

Habitat: Ponderosa Pine and Coniferous forests. In winter will sometimes move down in elevation to adjacent Pinyon/Juniper habitat.

Time of year: Year-round.

Relative Abundance:
Fairly common in proper habitat

Behavior: Nuthatch-like in behavior. Brown Creepers are a bark-gleaner. They typically start low on the base of a tree trunk and gradually work their way up the trunk of the tree as they search for food. After getting high up in the tree they will fly down to a lower point on the tree trunk and start the process all over again.

Diet:
Insects

Similar species: Nuthatches

Best Sites: Granite Basin, Goldwater Lake, Lynx Lake, Bradshaw National Forests.