Connecticut Audubon Bird Finder for November 6: Brown Creeper

Brown Creeper
Certhia Americana

What it looks like: A small, slender, unobtrusive brown bird with a long tail, the Brown Creeper can often be seen hitching up the trunk of a tree where it pries tiny insects from cracks in the bark with a long thin bill then dropping to the trunk of another. Creepers are a mottled brown but display a buffy band on the wings when in flight.

Where to find it: Mature forests are the favored home, but they may be found in any good woodlot during migration, especially in the fall. They are often fairly gregarious and several birds may frequently associate with mixed flocks of chickadees, kinglets and woodpeckers.

Brown Creepers have recently been seen and banded at Birdcraft Sanctuary in Fairfield, at Meigs Pont woods at Hammonassett State Park in Madison and East Rock Park in New Haven.

How to find it: In late fall, look for foraging groups of small songbirds such as chickadees, kinglets, titmice, and downy woodpeckers. The brown creepers will always be found climbing up the trunk of the larger trees.

What if it isn’t there: Hey, a great day birding the woods in the fall is always worthwhile, you may likely find a number of migrants including kinglets, Hermit Thrush, Winter Wren, maybe even a Northern Goshawk.

The ICUN lists the Brown Creeper as a species of Least Concern.

This week’s Connecticut Audubon Society Bird Finder was written by Milan Bull, Connecticut Audubon’s senior director of science and conservation, and edited by Tom Andersen.

Photo by Alan Vernon, Carolinabirds.org.