From Opus

Alternative name: American Treecreeper.

Certhia americana

Photo by Kevin Thompson

[edit] Identification

5-5 3/4" (13-15 cm). Smaller than a sparrow.
A slender, streaked, brown bird, tinged with buff on flanks.

[edit] Distribution

Breeds from Alaska, Ontario, and Newfoundland southward throughout western mountains, Great Lakes region, North Carolina, and New England.

Winters in breeding range and south to Gulf Coast and Florida.

[edit] Taxonomy

American Treecreeper is one of eight treecreepers in the genus Certhia; at least the two species in Europe are quite similar to the American species in also being cryptically patterned.

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

About twelve subspecies of Certhia americana are currently recognized:

• C. a. alascensis: South-central Alaska; winters to Arizona and New Mexico
• C. a. occidentalis: Coastal south-eastern Alaska to central California
• C. a. stewarti: Queen Charlotte Islands (British Columbia)
• C. a. montana: British Columbia to Cascades, the Dakotas, southern Arizona and western Texas
• C. a. zelotes: Southern Oregon through Cascades and Coast ranges to southern California
• C. a. americana: Northern Saskatchewan to Newfoundland and north-eastern US; winters to Mexico
• C. a. idahoensis: Northern Idaho and north-western Montana to central Alberta; winters to Arizona
• C. a. nigrescens: Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina
• C. a. albescens: Mountains of south-eastern Arizona, south-western New Mexico and north-western Mexico
• C. a. alticola: Mountains of southern Mexico
• C. a. pernigra: Mountains of extreme southern Mexico (Chiapas) and northern Guatemala
• C. a. extima: Mountains of eastern Guatemala, Honduras and north-western Nicaragua

[edit] Habitat

Deciduous and mixed woodlands.

[edit] Behaviour

This species is usually seen creeping up tree trunks, using its long, stiff tail for support

[edit] Breeding

The clutch consists of 6 or 7 white eggs, lightly speckled with brown, in a cup of bark shreds, feathers, sticks, and moss, usually placed against a tree trunk behind a peeling slab of bark.

[edit] Vocalisation

Call: A high-pitched, lisping tsee.
Song: A tinkling, descending warble.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.

• List of references

[edit] External Links