Page 357 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

NUTHATCHES,WALLCREEPER,AND TREECREEPERS
Order Passeriformes Family Certhidae Species Certhia brachydactyla
Short-toed Treecreeper

long, slender, slightly
looks slim and downcurved bill
weak in flight

clean white
slightly drab throat
above
whitish wingbar
IN FLIGHT

FLIGHT: quite direct but weak, undulating, with
bursts of quick wingbeats. saw-tooth pattern
across wings
ew species pairs are as difficult as the two
Ftreecreepers: the Short-toed is best told
by its calls and song. Even held in the hand,
the two can be near impossible to separate on
plumage and measurements alone.The Short-
toed has more obvious white tips to the wingtip
feathers and a slightly different pattern across the
closed wing. In general, the Short-toed is a touch
duller, a little browner underneath, with a more plain tail
contrasted white throat; sometimes it may look a
little rounder, with its tail angled in more steeply to
the bark, but such impressions are of little real value.
It is equally dependent on trees, but does clamber
on rocks at times.
VOICE Call quite strong, short, clear tsoit, sometimes longer sreet; song stereotyped,
with discrete notes (not flowing like Treecreeper’s), stit-stit-steet, stit-it-steroi-tit. BARK SPECIALIST
NESTING Cup of grass The Short-toed Treecreeper spends
and feathers in crevice, SIMILAR SPECIES its whole life clambering on tree
like Treecreeper; 5 or 6 bark searching for food.
eggs;1 brood;April–June. whiter OCCURRENCE
FEEDING Like below Breeds locally in Spain, Italy,
Treecreeper, creeps about France, Low Countries, Italy, and
branches and tree trunks, Balkans. Typically in lowland, often
probing and picking (but deciduous woods, but also in pine
not chipping away bark) forest in hills. Present all year, rare
for insects and eggs; TREECREEPER vagrant outside its breeding range.
sometimes forages different call and Seen in the UK
on rocks. song; see p.354 JF M A M J JA S ON D
Length 12.5cm (5in) Wingspan 18–21cm (7–8 1 ⁄2in) Weight 8–12g ( 5 ⁄16 – 7 ⁄16oz)
Social Mixed flocks Lifespan 2–3 years Status Secure
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