I’ve lost the part of my hearing a while ago that includes birds that have very high pitched notes like goldcrest and treecreeper – my tinnitus blankets them – unfortunately!! So I was out wandering with Magnus the other morning when I saw a Treecreeper and it did appear to be calling – well it looked like that’s what it was up to but I could not hear the thin high-pitched ‘tsee, tsee’ call. The call is so easy to recognise – sounds a tad like a wheezy chest. I love watching treecreepers – especially this time of the year when they are actively looking for both a mate and a territory to set up. It’s no surprise that its name in days gone by was ‘tree mouse’ and its accepted name of now ‘treecreeper’ does exactly what it says – creeps about on trees!
The treecreeper is small, very active, bird that lives almost entirely in and on trees. It has a long, slender, down curved bill that’s just the job for searching out insects in cracks and crannies. It is speckled brown above and mainly white below making it look very much like a mouse as it zooms up the trunk of a tree. It will work its way up trunks in a spiral fashion before dropping down to the base of another tree.
The big problem with trying to watch treecreepers is that they never just sit there and chill!!! They are the ‘frantics’ of the bird world always in a hurry to get somewhere or something.
The winter roosting habits of treecreepers have been studied by ornithologists who have found that the most favoured sites are contained in the soft fibrous bark of redwoods and wellingtonias. These trees are doubtless chosen due to the ease of excavation and the insulating quality of the bark. The treecreeper handles any enlargement in the morning and evening, pecking away chips and scraping with feet.
Most roost hollows are found about eight feet from the ground and below the lowest branches. They may be on all sides of the trunk or mainly on the sheltered side to which the bird would anyway tend to move in wind or rain (who said birds don’t think and only act by instinct!!!).
Changes of tree are probably also due to weather conditions. All trees may be abandoned on very stormy nights. A given creeper does not always roost in the same hole and will, according to the literature, occupy a roosting chamber used previously by another bird. Some trees may contain 10 or 11 holes; others, apparently just as suitable, none.
The Ravens are a tad noisy of late – fingers crossed they’ll be successful in breeding this year. It’s so good to sit in the garden and hear raven call as they fly over. They are definitely my favourite corvid – and possibly the most intelligent of the family. They are so clever at working out problems – especially when the solution to the problem results in food!
One intriguing aspect of these birds is the collective noun used to describe a group of them: an unkindness – I don’t think they are unkind!!! Personally I’d say ‘a mystery of ravens’!