Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) [XC783576]
by Valerie Heemstra from Ash Creek Trail, Pinale\u00f1os, Graham Co., AZ, United States (call)
Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) [XC350752]
by David Tonnessen from Ute Valley Park, Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado, United States (call, song)
Nest
A partial cup, under a piece of bark partially detached from the tree, or in a tree cavity.
Subspecies
Formerly treated as conspecific with Eurasian Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris), but differs genetically and vocally, and most recent studies indicate that its closest relative is Short-toed Treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla). Geographical variation slight and largely clinal, subspecies intergrading where they meet. The "Brown morph" of nominate subspecies in Newfoundland described as a separate subspecies, anticostiensis. In southern Mexico, proposed subspecies jaliscensis, from southern Jalisco, guerrerensis, from Guerrero and molinensis, from Oaxaca all synonymized with alticola.
The following 14 subspecies are recognised:
alascensis Webster, JD, 1986 - South-central Alaska (southern at least from Mt McKinley and eastern from Kodiak I). Non-breeding also west-central USA (Idaho south to south-eastern Arizona and south-western New Mexico, east to north-western Arkansas).
occidentalis Ridgway, 1882 - Pacific coast from south-eastern Alaska southern in western USA to north-central California, east to coastal slopes of Coast Range in Alaska and British Columbia and western slope of Cascades in Washington and Oregon. Non-breeding also occasionally east to central-southern British Columbia and in west-central California.
stewarti Webster, JD, 1986 - Queen Charlotte Is (possibly also northern Vancouver I), off British Columbia.
zelotes Osgood, 1901 - Eastern slope of Cascades from southern Oregon south through Sierra Nevada to mountains of north, eastern and southern California and east to Nevada. Non-breeding also Arizona and New Mexico.
phillipsi Unitt & Rea, 1997 - Outer Coast Ranges of central California (from San Francisco south to San Luis Obispo County).
montana Ridgway, 1882 - Breeds interior south-western Canada (eastern from eastern flanks of Coast Range in British Columbia, northern Alberta) and in west-central USA from Cascades of Washington and central Oregon east to central-northern Idaho, north-western Montana and western South Dakota and south to southern Arizona and extreme western Texas (Guadalupe Mts). Non-breeding also west to Pacific coast, east to Wisconsin and Louisiana, and south to northern Mexico (northern Coahuila).
leucosticta van Rossem, 1931 - Mountains of southern Nevada and west-central Utah.
americana Bonaparte, 1838 - Breeds southern Canada from central Saskatchewan and central and southern Manitoba east to southern Quebec (including Anticosti I and Brion I), New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Prince Edward I, also north-eastern USA south to southern Wisconsin, north-eastern Ohio, eastern West Virginia and northern Virginia. Non-breeding mainly USA (eastern from Colorado, south to Texas and Florida) and north-eastern Mexico (south to south-eastern Coahuila).
nigrescens Burleigh, 1935 - Great Smoky Mts (eastern Tennessee and North Carolina), in eastern USA.
albescens von Berlepsch, 1888 - Mountains of south-western USA (south-eastern Arizona and south-western New Mexico) and north-western Mexico (southern in Sierra Madre Occidental to north-eastern Nayarit, north-western Jalisco and western Zacatecas).
alticola Miller, GS, 1895 - Mexico in Sierra Madre Oriental (southern from Coahuila, western Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas) and Sierra Madre del Sur (Jalisco east to Oaxaca).
pernigra Griscom, 1935 - Southern Mexico (central Chiapas) east to Guatemala (to Volcán de Fuego).
extima Miller, W & Griscom, 1925 - Eastern Guatemala (Sierra de las Minas), Honduras and north-central Nicaragua (southern at least to San Rafael del Norte).
idahoensis Webster, 1986 - Northern Idaho and north-western Montana to central Alberta. Winters to Arizona.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet