The Brown Creeper roosts on the side of a tree or building by holding on with its sharp claws and bracing itself with its stiff tail feathers. As it forages, it moves up and around the tree in a circle, as if ascending a spiral staircase. Then it begins again at the base of the next tree. Its coloration provides perfect camouflage against the background of bark. When startled, it will freeze against the tree, otherwise it seems to be in constant motion.

Species Characteristics:
Length: 12 to 13 cm
Physical characteristics: A small bird with a thin, curved bill and a long, thin tail. It has mottled brownish upperparts, white underparts and rust colored rump feathers. There is a white line over the eye and a broad band of buff feathers that can be seen in flight. Sexes are similar.
Voice: Song is a high and thin see, see how sweet I am.

Breeding habitat: The Brown Creeper prefers mature coniferous or mixed coniferous-deciduous forests. It may also occur in larger stands of dying trees, where the peeling bark it prefers for nesting sites can be found.

Mating system: Seasonally monogamous; the number of broods per season is thought to be 1 to 2.

Nest: The nest is a hammock-like cup built under loose bark, or less often, in a cavity. It is built of bark, moss and pine needles and lined with feathers. The pair selects the site, but the female is responsible for the construction.

Eggs: A clutch may contain 4 - 8 eggs (generally 5 - 6), which are white in color and sparsely flecked with reddish-browns. 15mm (0.6'').

Chick development: The male feeds the female while she incubates the eggs for 14 to 17 days. At hatching the chicks are altricial. Both sexes feed and care for the young. Upon fledging, at 13 to 16 days of age, the young birds can cling to the trunk and creep upwards on a tree.

Diet: The diet consists of mostly insects and other invertebrates. A creeper will forage on tree trunks and under limbs, gleaning insects from the cracks and crevices with its slim down-turned bill. It will climb a tree, spiraling up the trunk and using its tail as a support, as it searches for prey. It also adds a small amount of seeds and nuts to its diet in the winter.

Parasites: Undescribed species of feather mites of the genera Proctophyllodes (Proctophyllodidae) and Analges (Analgidae) were collected off of creepers caught at New Found Gap in 2002 and Indian Gap in 2005 (Reeves et al. 2007). The louse fly Ornithomya anchineura Speiser (Hippoboscidae) was collected off of a creeper caught at Indian Gap on the state line in August of 2005 (Reeves et al. 2007).

Conservation Biology:
The Brown Creeper has suffered declines in its population numbers in some areas of its range, but overall the population is considered stable.
Special Protection Status:
Rangewide: None.
Region: The Southern Appalachian breeding population of Brown Creeper is on the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program List of Rare Animals as "Significantly Rare", on the Tennessee Natural Heritage Program's "Tracked" list (2001), and has been proposed to be shifted to "Special Concern" status (2001).

Breeding: This species breeds in the northern coniferous forests from south Alaska east to Newfoundland. In the eastern United States it is found from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania and south though the Appalachians. In the West it is seen along the coast from Washington to California and in the Rocky Mountains.

Winter: The Brown Creeper will migrate from the northern parts of its range to winter throughout the United States. Those birds breeding at higher altitudes will move to the valleys. The creeper may roost in groups in the winter and join mixed-species flocks, along with chickadees (Poecile sp.), nuthatches (Sitta sp.) and woodpeckers (Picidae).

The Brown Creeper is a common year-round resident bird species in the Park. This species may be seen at many locations, but is most common at high elevation in the southeast portion of the park. A great place to see these birds is on the Mount Sterling trail.

A survey of breeding birds in the park, performed from 1996-1999, ranked Brown Creeper as the 28th most common species out of 113 species observed during the breeding season. Estimates from this survey indicate that overall Brown Creeper density in the park during the breeding season is approximately 0.14 pairs/hectare, with density peaking above 5,000 feet where it is approximately 0.82 pairs/hectare.

References:

Alsop, F. J. III. 1991. Birds Of The Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains History Association, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Bent, A. C. and Collaborators. 1996 - 2002. Brown Creeper, In Life Histories of Familiar North American Birds, ed., Patricia Query Newforth.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2002. Forty-third supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 119: 897-906.

Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook: a Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York.

Elphick, C., J. B. Dunning, Jr., and D. A. Sibley, eds. 2001. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Gough, G. A., Sauer, J. R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html.

Reeves, W. K., L. A. Durden, C. M. Ritzi, K. R. Beckham, P. E. Super, and B. M. O?Connor. 2007. Ectoparasites and other ectosymbiotic arthropods of vertebrates in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA. Zootaxa.

Sibley, D. A. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Stupka, A. 1963. Notes on the Birds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. University of Tennessee Press.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2000. Forty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 117: 847-858.