TREECREEPER
This small bird can be between 120 and 180mm in length. Their bills are gently down curving and rather long. They have cream and blackish mottling on brown backs. There is a white stripe over the eye and a white chin, breast, and belly. They have thin, slender toes tipped with strongly curved claws for gripping the bark. In flight they have whitish wing bars and a reddish-brown rump. Their tails are used as props while climbing.
Treecreepers forage on the trunks of large trees. They move up the trunk in a series of small hops with their feet together. They fly to the bottom of a tree and climb in a spiral fashion, looking for food. They feast on small invertebrates including insects and their larvae, spiders and their eggs and have been known to visit bird feeders. They are resident here and nest in the gaps between the bark and the tree. I have only seen them here, on the trees on Mt Ainos, but I am sure they are more widespread than that.
