Short-toed Treecreeper

The treecreepers are a family, Certhiidae, of small passerine birds, widespread in wooded regions of the Northern Hemisphere and sub-Saharan Africa. The family contains ten species in two genera, Certhia and Salpornis. Their plumage is dull-coloured, and as their name implies, they climb over the surface of trees in search of food.
The family consists of two subfamilies, each with one genus. Their distinctive anatomical and behavioural characteristics are discussed in their respective articles.

Subfamily Certhiinae, genus Certhia, is the typical treecreepers, with seven species found in Europe and Asia, and one, the brown creeper, in North America.
Subfamily Salpornithinae, genus Salpornis, contains only the Indian spotted creeper and African spotted creeper.
Some taxonomists place the nuthatches and treecreepers in a larger grouping with the wrens and gnatcatchers. This superfamily, the Certhioidea, was based on phylogenetic studies using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, and was created to cover a clade of four families removed from a larger grouping of passerine birds, the Sylvioidea. The fossil record for this group appears to be restricted to a foot bone of an early Miocene bird from Bavaria which has been identified as an extinct representative of the climbing Certhioidea, a clade comprising the treecreepers, wallcreeper and nuthatches. It has been described as Certhiops rummeli.

Relatives of the treecreepers in the superfamily Certhioidea.
The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek kerthios, a small tree-dwelling bird described by Aristotle and others, and Latin familiaris, familiar or common.

There are two other small bird families with treecreeper or creeper in their name, which are not closely related:
– the Australian treecreepers (Climacteridae)
– the Philippine creepers (Rhabdornithidae)

The wallcreeper was originally described in the family Certhiidae but is now considered as more closely related to the nuthatches. The woodcreepers (subfamily Dendrocolaptinae) also have a similar name.

Song/call: