Monday, February 8, 2016

Oppa Creeper style!



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What creeps and signs? What a couple dances around a tree? Having a short walk to my favourite park and it takes only few minutes to look around to notice that singing creatures not only fly but creep on a tree cortex too. Especially around feeders area however when the snow melts - not only. So here we go: in the parks we can find a couple of treecreeper species, although very difficult to distinguish even for people interested in ornitology: treecreeper and short-toed treecreeper. They differ with subtle details which I am not going to dive into. During the last weekend park walk, although I do not know which of them I was observing, they must have felt the spring already - a couple was dancing around the tree, creeping higher and higher.It was hard to follow them even with a naked eye, let alone with a telezoom.






Not much experienced eye can mistake them with a nuthatch, which like treecreepers moves on the tree cortex, but this one can also go with his head downwards, like no other can do.







On the other hand the nuthatch ca be imitatted by a great tit, however those only sometimes just stick to the tree cortex while targeting pieces of food in the feeder. One will not see them creepeing though.