page_title: Eurasian treecreeper
section_title: Feeding
hierarchical_section_title: Eurasian treecreeper / Behaviour / Feeding
caption_attribution_description: English: mirrored version of Commons en:Image:A Formica rufa sideview.jpg
context_page_description: The Eurasian treecreeper or common treecreeper is a small passerine bird also known in the British Isles, where it is the only living member of its genus, simply as treecreeper. It is similar to other treecreepers, and has a curved bill, patterned brown upperparts, whitish underparts, and long stiff tail feathers which help it creep up tree trunks. It can be most easily distinguished from the similar short-toed treecreeper, which shares much of its European range, by its different song.
  The Eurasian treecreeper has nine or more subspecies which breed in different parts of its range in the Palearctic. This species is found in woodlands of all kinds, but where it overlaps with the short-toed treecreeper in western Europe it is more likely to be found in coniferous forests or at higher altitudes. It nests in tree crevices or behind bark flakes, and favours introduced giant sequoia as nest sites where they are available. The female typically lays five or six pink-speckled white eggs in the lined nest, but eggs and chicks are vulnerable to attack by woodpeckers and mammals, including squirrels.
context_section_description: The Eurasian treecreeper typically seeks invertebrate food on tree trunks, starting near the tree base and working its way up using its stiff tail feathers for support. Unlike a nuthatch, it does not come down trees head first, but flies to the base of another nearby tree. It uses its long thin bill to extract insects and spiders from crevices in the bark. Although normally found on trees, it will occasionally hunt prey items on walls, bare ground, or amongst fallen pine needles, and may add some conifer seeds to its diet in the colder months.
  The female Eurasian treecreeper forages primarily on the upper parts of the tree trunks, while the male uses the lower parts. A study in Finland found that if a male disappears, the unpaired female will forage at lower heights, spend less time on each tree and have shorter foraging bouts than a paired female.
  This bird may sometimes join mixed-species feeding flocks in winter, but it does not appear to share the resources found by accompanying tits and goldcrests, and may just be benefiting from the extra vigilance of a flock. Wood ants share the same habitat as the treecreeper, and also feed on invertebrates on tree trunks. The Finnish researchers found that where the ants have been foraging, there are fewer arthropods, and male treecreepers spent a shorter time on spruce trunks visited by ants.
caption: Formica rufa, a competitor for arthropod prey
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