A little creeper in our backyard...

Our recent snows brought a new visitor to our backyard...a Brown Creeper (Certhia americana)! This cute mouse-like brown bird landed at the base of our half-dead weeping willow tree when I was standing about 20 feet away photographing Dark-eyed Juncos (click here for those shots). He efficiently and thoroughly worked his way up the tree, turning over loose bark and peering into crevices as he hunted out spiders and other overwintering insects and eggs. When he exhausted the willow tree, he flew over to the ash tree and worked his way up it...

A Brown Creeper clings to the bark on the weeping willow tree in our back yard.

I noticed the Brown Creeper was using his tail as a prop, much like a woodpecker does. 

That's a mighty fine pygostyle you've got there...
I recently read in the book Wild Bird Guides: Downy Woodpecker by Gary Ritchison, that the anatomical structure that allows woodpeckers to use their tails as props is called a "pygostyle." A cool name that stuck with me, because when I saw the Brown Creeper using its tail in the same posture, "pygostyle" popped in my head, and I wondered if a Brown Creeper's pygostyle was similar to a woodpecker's. After looking in a few books and doing a few Internet searches, I found it was.

How is it different?
The pygostyle in a bird is made from 4-10 fused posterior caudal vertebrae...basically, it's the bird's tail bone (like our coccyx). The pygostyle and the muscles around it give support to the tail feathers (rectrices), and while all birds have a pygostyle, not all pygostyles are the same. For example, the bones in a woodpecker's and creeper's pygostyle are much larger and the muscles surrounding it are much stronger than those in an average bird's tail. Most birds fly and perch on branches, but woodpeckers and creepers cling to and walk up the vertical surface of a tree trunk. Their tails help them stay in place because they work like a prop. Additionally, these types of birds have the adaptation of very stiff tail feathers, especially the middle feathers...all the better to lean on when clinging to or walking up a tree trunk. If you look closely, the middle feathers are also pointed and curve slightly inward to guarantee the tail makes solid contact with the bark (Ritchison, pg. 10).

Other birds have well-developed pygostyles too, for example, woodland hawks that use their tail feathers for precise steering through branches have well-developed pygostyles, and birds that use their tails for upward lift to help them hover, such as kestrels, do too.  If you'd like to see a labeled bird skeleton of the pygostyle, click here and look at #2. (However, if you've ever dressed a turkey or a chicken, you've already seen the pygostyle! It's the "Pope's nose" or the "parson's nose," the colloquialisms for the fleshy triangle at the tail.)

While spiraling up the tree, our little Brown Creeper popped into an exposed and abandoned woodpecker's hole for a few seconds before continuing on. It's unusual to see a Brown Creeper standing out so well. Usually their camouflaging colors and patterns make them invisible against the bark. They are no match for the inside of a tree!

It's easy to see how the Brown Creeper makes good use of its tail. The pointed tail feathers are stiff like a Downy Woodpecker's and when combined with the strength of a well-developed pygostyle and muscles it becomes a very good prop and helps the bird cling to the tree trunk's vertical surface. 

It's always fun to spot a Brown Creeper. They blend into the bark so well sometimes it's hard to see them. I usually hear their ultra-fine peeping and then watch until I see a little movement. Their habit of spiraling up a tree and then diving down to the base of the next tree helps a little when looking for one. 

...here you can see the inward curve on the Brown Creeper's middle tail feathers. 

...another adaptation, Brown Creepers have extra long back toe nails, or hind claws, to help them hook into the bark. 

p.s.
The snow blew in another backyard favorite, our American Tree Sparrows (Spizella arborea)! Every year I wait for them to show up, but they never seem to arrive until snow or a severe cold snap moves in. I saw two on Wednesday....exciting. I love the tinkling, sweet calls of a flock of American Tree Sparrows.  This afternoon Rick and I went to Armleder Park to look for longspurs, we didn't see those, but we did see and hear hundreds of American Tree Sparrows...what a magical sound!
Click here for an older post on American Tree Sparrows--a favorite winter visitor.

Christmas Bird Count—Cincinnati, Western Hamilton County

I went on the Cincinnati Western Hamilton County Christmas Bird count today. Although it was the first time for me, the Western Hamilton County CBC is in its 46th year. I'm so glad I went. I had a lot of fun and met several new birding friends! I was also introduced to west-side cuisine at the Sunshine Cafe during our lunch break--yum, I loved it! Highlights for me were Rusty Blackbirds, a Northern Harrier, and right at the end, in the glowing light of the fading sun, an immature American Bald Eagle...yeah!

A flock of about 20 Rusty Blackbirds was in the woods along the Great Miami River off 128 near the soccer fields.

I dig those rusty heads and bright eyes! I've never seen Rusties on the Little Miami river close to where I live. I'm going to have to look a little harder. They are really cool birds...

I was on the team with Paul, Joe and Judy. Paul just emailed me that the final tally was 87 species, 1 short of the record of 88. I had to leave before the tally to watch Rick and Matty play in a hockey tourney. Next year I'm staying for the tally. It sounds fun!

Two American Black Ducks flying past, their blue wing patches flashing brightly. (If you think the quality of this photo is bad, wait until you see what's coming...)

...a most excellent shot of a Northern Harrier. You can SORT-OF see his owlish face...and just a hint of his white rump feathers.

...and an even better shot of an immature American Bald Eagle (in the golden light of evening no less)! If you squint and think happy eagle thoughts, he will come to life right before your eyes.

...finally, a quick pencil sketch I did at home of the Brown Creeper we saw and heard by the river.

Thanks Paul, Joe and Judy for taking me along with you! I had a wonderful time! Next year I'm going to learn how to digiscope for these long-distance shots...

"A small, 5 inch, mouse-like bird..."

...so starts the description of the sweet little Brown Creeper in my "Teach -Me About Birds Flash Cards, in full color (by Renwal Products, Inc.)." I remember the words "mouse-like bird" from the first time I read them in 1968, the year my mom and dad gave me the flash cards, but I wouldn't see the bird on a tree for years to come...not until I was an adult and learned how to narrow in on it by listening to its soft, seeping call.

I always hear Brown Creepers before I see them...and I always get happy when I hear them because they are just so darn cute!

It really is a mouse-like bird the way it creeps and crawls as it spirals up the tree looking under bark for insects to eat.

This is one of four Brown Creepers I found the Sunday before last along the Little Miami River. I was almost at the end of my walk and very close to the Kings Powder Factory when I heard that tiny, tiny call and soon four came into view.

...what are you doing in this batch of photos nuthatch? Trying to act like a Brown Creeper? You're supposed to go down the tree while the creepers go up!

...the description on the flash cards for the Brown Creeper really should have read, "a small, 5 inch, BARK-like bird," because that's what it is--a moving piece of bark that's hard to see!

I saw something really creepy at Ft. Ancient yesterday...

...a Brown Creeper--one of my favorite winter birds! I love the high-pitched peeping noises these tiny little pieces of moving bark make. Perfectly camouflaged, they are sometime hard to spot.

I am the tree...

Sunday, when Rick and Matty took off for hockey games in Columbus, I took off for Ft. Ancient. Hoping to catch a few new winter birds, I picked up the Mound Trail through the meadow by the bird blind. The leaf cover on the ground was heavy, and I had to slow down several times to inch my way across the ground because I was making more ruckus than one person should be able to make! At one point I came to a complete stop to just listen, and as I did, the woods seemed to come to life with the peeping of Brown Creepers. I would hear one to the right....another to the left...one far away...close...behind me....and on and on. It was as if 50 birds were hiding on 50 different trees, calling to each other and making sure they remained invisible to me. Finally I started seeing movement as a bird would leave one tree and fly down to the bottom of another. I was able to keep track of eight birds at this time, but one bird I couldn't find. He was very, very close, but I couldn't seem to track his call, then suddenly he appeared! The little wood chip materialized right in front of me and almost seemed to pause for the camera!

I don't often get a chance to photograph these masters of camouflage. They move up the tree so fast and jump from here to there. I usually just watch them through the binocs. I like how he's following the angle of the bark here.

I thought he might stop and look in the hole, but he didn't. He was too busy looking for bugs to bother with an empty hole...for heaven's sake...

...and it's a good thing he didn't because if you look closely, you can see a big fat bug in his bill, which he found and ate shortly after passing the hole. Eww...creepy!

Click here for one of my earliest posts. It's about a Brown Creeper and the info about him from my first "field guide" from 1968, "Teach Me About Birds--Flash Cards in Full Color!" (The cards are gorgeous, and have really cool facts. I loved them back then when I was just in the first grade. )

For posts about Fort Ancient, click here. Fort Ancient is located in Warren County in Ohio and is on a gorgeous wooded plateau perched 245 feet above the Little Miami River. It is the largest prehistoric earthen hilltop enclosure in the United States. Built 2000 years ago by Mound Builders, the earth walls stretch 3.5 miles, enclosing over 100 acres of hilltop. Mound Builders used small baskets to move more than 553,000 cubic yards of soil to form the earthen walls that reach from 4 to 23 feet in height. Amazingly, most of the earthworks are still visible and retain the same form they had over 2000 years ago! Archeologists estimate it took about 400 years (100BC – 290AD) to build the entire complex.

Check out Bird Photography Weekly to see birds from all over the world.

Teach Me about Birds, Flash Cards in Full Color...revisited!

The little Brown Creeper was such a cool bird I thought it deserved a Teach Me about Birds, Flash Cards in Full Color check, and sure enough, one was in the box! Here is the Brown Creeper flash card from 1968 (my first field guide),


…and even more interesting, on the back of the flash card was the best description ever,

...a small, five-inch, mouse-like bird that climbs up trees in a spiral.

“Mouse-like bird” is such a perfect description. I don’t understand why it’s not in any of the contemporary guides. As I read further, I came across something else new,

Feeds on tiny destructive insects that it finds in the bark of trees. The bird’s pure-white breast may help to reflect light into the darker nooks.

Well that’s cool. None of the current guides talk about the breast reflection thing, so naturally, I started thinking about the white-breasted nuthatch and wondered if they used the same logic with that bird, and sure enough, they did. Here is the flash card,

…and here is the description,

A sturdy, little, 5 to 6 inch, grey tree-trunk acrobat (again a totally cute description). The white breast helps to reflect light into crevices in the bark it searches.

So there we go. Why is this little tidbit missing from today’s guides? Is it no longer valid, or just not deemed important. Whether it’s true or not now, it was in 1968, and that was a pretty good year!

What's that creeping up the tree?

Look what Larry found creeping up his tree this weekend...

..a beautiful Brown Creeper! 

Look in the bottom-right corner. He is perfectly camouflaged against the bark, creeping around that poison ivy runner. With brown and white streaked feathers, creepers have the ability to blend into the tree trunk, and if they sense danger, this becomes their defense. They freeze and hunker into the bark, virtually disappearing from sight.

Brown Creepers are winter visitors, and they are fun to watch!! Creepers fly down to the base of a tree and then systematically spiral upwards, nabbing insects from behind the bark. When they reach the top of the tree, they fly down to the base of the next tree and start all over. The constant spiraling is entertaining. We had a pair visit for a few days last year and the year before. I loved watching them. (I have to add, The Spotter, once again, spotted them before I did.)

Brown Creepers and White-breasted Nuthatches complement each other. Nuthatches walk down the tree, loosening bark and picking out insects on their way down, while creepers spiral up the tree, working the bark from the bottom at a different angle and getting the insects the white-breasted nuthatches missed.


Both are fed, and the tree is happy too. Mother Nature always knows what she’s doing.