The Stunning Brown Creeper

Always a fun surprise, especially at eye-level, I discovered a Brown Creeper scooting up a tree truck near my carport as I was taking my recycling out.  The carport is high above ground-level, mid-way up the trees, giving me a good view of birds in the area!

In Tennessee, these 5" birds (including bill and tail)  are seen mostly during the winter months so I've never heard their calls or songs, or at least, I haven't recognized them.

This creeper was scooting so fast on this gray, overcast day, that I had difficulty getting a good focus with my camera and then she stopped to preen!  (Males and females appear the same, so its impossible to tell!)  What a treat to see this activity.  Check out the long back toe and claw, above.  And below, a nice view of its tail brace. 

Though creepers aren't in the woodpecker family, they have a tail with stiffened, pointed tips like those of woodpeckers, that help brace them as they forage in the bark looking for insect eggs and larvae. Their beautiful dark and chocolate brown colors speckled with white, camouflage them almost completely when perched motionless on the bark of a tree.

My first creeper sighting of the season--a bird that makes you appreciate the beauty of brown and gray!
To see another intimate visit with a Brown Creeper visit my Brown Creeper post on Vickie Henderson Art.