The Eurasian Treecreeper is a tiny, bark-colored songbird that creeps up tree trunks like a mouse, picking insects out of the crevices. It lives in forests across Europe and Asia and does not occur in the US. Its close American cousin, the Brown Creeper, was sometimes treated as the same species.
Appearance
- Appearance
- About 4½–6 in (11–15.5 cm) long and weighing about 0.25–0.45 oz (7–13 g). Warm brown above with buff, black, and white streaks, clean white below, with a thin, down-curved bill and a stiff brown tail. Males and females look alike.
- Voice
- Calls are a thin, high "sit" and a piercing, trilled "tsree." The male's song is a series of high notes that includes a whistle.
Look-alikes
The Brown Creeper is the only treecreeper in North America, so a bark-brown bird creeping up a trunk in the US is a Brown Creeper. The two look nearly identical in photos; where the bird was seen is the practical clue.
Why they get mixed upSame size, same bark-brown back, white belly, curved bill, and trunk-climbing habit; it was sometimes treated as part of the Eurasian species.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Mature forests
- Conifer woods
- Mixed woodland
- Range
- Across temperate and northern Europe and Asia, including Britain, Korea, and Japan. It does not occur in North America.
- Seasonal presence
- Mostly stays put year-round in milder areas; birds from the far north move south in winter.
- Preferred conditions
- Prefers woods with mature trees. In much of Europe it favors conifer forest, but where it is the only treecreeper, as in Britain, it uses broadleaf and mixed woods too.
Behavior
- Diet
- Insects and spiders pried from bark crevices; in cold months it may eat some conifer seeds.
- Activity
- Starts at the base of a trunk and hops upward, bracing on its stiff tail. Instead of climbing down, it flies to the foot of the next tree in a bouncy, erratic flight.
Life cycle
- Nest
- Tucked into a crack in a tree or behind a loose flap of bark.
- Clutch size
- Usually 5–6 in Europe
- Incubation
- 13–17 days, by the female
- Fledging
- 15–17 days
- Lifespan
- Typically about 2 years; the oldest known bird lived 8 years 10 months
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
More species to explore
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