Image credit: Powder Mill Bird Banding

Go to Winter Birds - Range Map - Song

Description: The Brown Creeper, the only member of the creeper family found in North America, is brown above and white below. It has a prominent white eye stripe , white wing bars, and white streaks on the back and on the wings. It has a thin, and slightly down-curved bill used to pick invertebrates from inside tree bark. It can be very hard to see as it creeps up tree trunks in a spiraling motion. It will rarely creep down a tree. The Brown Creeper is about five inches in length. Males and females are similar in appearance.

Diet: Insects, spiders, and some seeds. It is less likely than nuthatches and chickadees to visit feeders, though it is often found with such birds in winter flocks.

Range: The Brown Creeper is a year-round resident from southern Alaska, throughout sub-arctic Canada and the Rocky Mountain region of the western United States. In the east, it can be found year-round through the Appalachian Mountains. Populations of Brown Creepers are year-round residents in northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota as well. In the winter, the Brown Creeper can be found throughout sub-Arctic Canada and the United States.

Habitat: The Brown Creeper prefers coniferous or mixed woodlands.

Status: The Brown Creeper is fairly common, but is easily overlooked as it blends in with tree trunks.