Fun Eurasian Treecreeper Facts For Kids

The Eurasian treecreeper, commonly known as the common treecreeper, is the only member of its family (Certhiidae) and genus (Certhia) found in Finland. This common tree-creeper has a brown, tan, or black upper body appearance resembling the color of a loose bark of a tree. And the lower body is usually white in color. This bird also has a long tail with a tapering end shaped like a woodpecker tail and long stiff tail feathers. Their legs are brownish-yellow, and they have a curved bill that helps them search for food from the crevices of the trees. They are known to make their nest in the tree trunks using twigs and vegetation. Also, their bright white chin helps to reflect light onto the tree just like a mirror which helps them to spot invertebrates in holes and crevices of the trees. These bird species are also known for migration to neighboring regions in the winter season and come back in the months of March-April. The Eurasian tree-creeper distribution plays an important part in the ecology by keeping away wood-boring insects.

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What type of animal is a Eurasian treecreeper?

The Eurasian treecreeper, Certhia familiaris, genus Certhia, is a small passerine bird.

What class of animal does a Eurasian treecreeper belong to?

The Eurasian treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) of genus Certhia belongs to the class Aves and the family Certhiidae.

How many Eurasian treecreepers are there in the world?

At present, the population size of the Eurasian treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) is estimated around 40-80 million in the world. In Finland, the breeding population was estimated to be 150,000-250,000 pairs.

Where does a Eurasian treecreeper live?

The Eurasian tree-creeper is found in the mixed forests of Europe and parts of Asia and is the only treecreeper to be found in Finland. The population range for these European birds can be found in southern Finland, Lapland, Germany, Norway, the Pacific coast of Russia and Korea, the United Kingdom, Japan, Sweden, Turkey, and Iran.

What is a Eurasian treecreeper's habitat?

The Eurasian treecreeper's, Certhia familiaris, habitat distribution consists of deciduous and coniferous woodlands. Although they primarily breed in pine or spruce forests, they can be found in abundance in mature and mixed forests or parks with high densities of mature trees. This short-toed treecreeper lives at elevations of 1,312-7,004 ft (400-2,135 m) above sea level.

Who do Eurasian treecreepers live with?

The Eurasian treecreeper, Certhia familiaris (family Certhiidae), are solitary and sedentary birds that do not appear in more than a pair. Once these European birds establish their territories they stay within them only. Research was done in Nottinghamshire that also found that the treecreepers do not usually venture further than 0.3 mi (500 m).

How long does a Eurasian treecreeper live?

The Eurasian treecreepers (Certhia familiaris) live for an average of two years. However, the longest living wild Eurasian treecreeper lived for eight years and two months.

How do they reproduce?

The Eurasian tree-creepers are monogamous birds and the male tree-creepers attract the females by singing in a sequence of shrill and high-pitched sounds. These birds produce two broods per breeding season with each brood consisting of one to six eggs. These eggs have white with pink or reddish-brown spots. They lay the eggs in April-May and the male treecreepers take care of only the first brood. The Eurasian treecreepers are also known for making cryptic nests in tree crevices and behind loose bark pieces to defend the eggs. These nests are made using twigs, vegetation, bark, fibers, leaves, mosses, cocoon parts, spider egg cases, and feathers. The female treecreepers incubate the eggs for 13-17 days until they hatch. After that the fledglings stay in the nest for 13-18 days, however, their time of independence is yet unknown.

What is their conservation status?

The Certhia familiaris, Eurasian treecreeper, bird species have been declared as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The Eurasian treecreepers are abundant in population, however, they are extremely sensitive and vulnerable towards forest fragmentation and deforestation since they rely a lot on mature forests and trees for foraging and breeding but deforestation alters with the birds' vegetation and habitat conditions.

What do Eurasian treecreepers look like?

The Eurasian treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) is a bird with a similar appearance to that of the short-toed treecreeper, which shares almost the same European range, but can only be distinguished through its song that is different. The Eurasian treecreepers share features similar to other treecreepers, like curved bills, patterned brown upperparts, whitish lower body parts, and long stiff tail feathers. Their long stiff tail feathers help them to creep up the tree trunks to forage and breed on the trees. Their curved bills are also broad, white supercilia, and thin. Their head and upper body are molted black, brown, tan, and white. Their upper brown bodies are high in contrast with their lower unmarked, white throats, bellies, and under their stiff tail feathers.

How cute are they?

Eurasian treecreepers, Certhia familiaris, are really cute and magnificent birds with a beautiful color combination of dark brown and white.

How do they communicate?

The male Eurasian treecreepers are known to sing and communicate through complete as well as incomplete songs. The male Eurasian treecreepers sing to attract the female treecreepers during the breeding season. These incomplete songs also known as the mixed songs are a mix of both Eurasian treecreeper and short-toed treecreeper songs. These mixed songs occur when during the transmission of these songs from parents to the offspring, the offspring hear another species song. So they learn the mixed songs due to an error of copying that occurred due to species overlap. The Eurasian treecreepers have a low song variation and complexity and have no specific song due to the issue of mixed songs. These European birds also use a high-pitched narrow frequency 'tjii' alarm call to silence their nestlings or fledglings before they go to defend their nest. This call is undetectable by the predators and hence the predator cannot locate the treecreeper's location.

How big is a Eurasian treecreeper?

Eurasian treecreepers are 4.7-5.9 in (12-15 cm) in length which is a few inches shorter than hermit thrushes, which are also migratory birds like the treecreepers.

How fast can a Eurasian treecreeper fly?

The treecreeper is mainly known for its quick, butterfly-like, undulating flight.

How much does a Eurasian treecreeper weigh?

The Eurasian treecreeper weighs around 0.2-0.4 oz (7-10 g). The bird is smaller than the northern pintail and in the same range as the brown creeper.

What are the male and female names of the species?

The Eurasian treecreeper male and Eurasian treecreeper female do not have separate names.

What would you call a baby Eurasian treecreeper?

The juvenile Eurasian treecreepers are often referred to as fledglings, nestlings, or chicks. The juvenile common treecreeper becomes sexually active by the age of one year old.

What do they eat?

The Certhia familiaris, Eurasian treecreeper, has a carnivorous diet especially insectivorous. The Eurasian treecreeper diet mainly consists of invertebrates like insects, spiders, and other arthropods. The treecreepers curved bill allows them to find insects hidden behind the crevices in tree trunks. In winter, when the food is scarce, this species of birds would search for food on the ground and would include seeds into their diet.

Are they poisonous?

There are no known threats to humans caused by this species of birds. Instead, these birds help the humans and the ecology by keeping away and controlling the population of wood-boring insects.

Would they make a good pet?

These British Eurasian treecreepers cannot be good pets because of their solitary and sedentary behavior. These bird species prefer to live on mature trees and in mature wild forests. So they might not even like to be kept as pets in a different habitat. Also, the bird has a very short life span range not very ideal for a pet.

Did you know...

When disturbed in any way the treecreeper would freeze on the tree trunk and get camouflaged with the help of its looks. Their black and brown mottled looks help them camouflage by making them look like the bark of a tree. The Eurasian treecreeper species avoids people and moves quickly in order to avoid being seen.

Are Eurasian treecreepers endangered?

The Eurasian treecreepers are in abundance and are not an endangered species. They are considered rare even though they have a huge population range because they cannot be spotted easily due to their camouflaging look.

Do treecreepers migrate?

Eurasian treecreepers are migratory birds and migrate by night. The Eurasian treecreeper migrates by flying south in winter around the month of September-October and would return in the month of March-April. The birds would migrate in neighboring regions, while some might migrate as far as Central Europe.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other birds from our blue jay interesting facts and hummingbird surprising facts pages.

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