If you spent most of your life crawling up tree trunks in search of food, you would need a way to avoid predators. Brown Creepers have amazing camouflage to assist them in this area, and from a straight-on angle like this, you'd hardly notice the bird if not for its movements. This was one of three Brown Creepers I saw today after first hearing one and pausing to try and locate it. To my surprise I spotted another in the same tree, and then a third in a nearby tree! And this wasn't near the feeders where I typically see them. My first Brown Creeper(s) of 2023. Hennepin County, MN 01/21/23

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The Brown Creepers were very active again this weekend at the cemetery. Conditions were very dark and I was pushing the limits of my camera at 3200 ISO. Though not a sharp photo, I like how this one turned out and it needed very little "touching up." I'm hoping for some sunny days this winter when I can catch better quality photos of the creepers. Hennepin County, MN 11/13/22

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The Brown Creepers have been visible and audible at the cemetery recently. A few days ago I saw 3 at once, but only saw this one today in cold and drizzling conditions. Hennepin County, MN 11/05/22

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The vast majority of my Brown Creeper photos were taken near bird feeders where I had ample opportunities to be in the right place at the right time. But I snagged this one "out in the wild" where I had to sprint from tree to tree multiple times. Hennepin County, MN 04/10/22

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Brown Creepers possess a strange mix of qualities of other birds. One of those not so obvious ones is the way they use their stiff tail feathers as an extra brace against the vertical surface of a tree trunk, the same way that Woodpeckers do. Hennepin County, MN 02/20/22

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