page_title: Indian spotted creeper
section_title: Behaviour and ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Indian spotted creeper / Behaviour and ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: Indian Spotted Creeper basking in golden light early morning at Tal Chappar on 27th Dec 2015 GMT-02:57:31
context_page_description: The Indian spotted creeper is a small passerine bird, which is a member of the subfamily Salpornithinae which is placed along with the treecreepers in the family Certhiidae. This small bird has a marbled black and white plumage that makes it difficult to spot as it forages on the trunks of dark, deeply fissured trees where it picks out insect prey using its curved bill. It is found in patchily distributed localities mainly in the dry scrub and open deciduous forests of northern and central peninsular India. It does not migrate. Their inclusion along with the treecreepers is not certain and some studies find them more closely related to the nuthatches while others suggest a close relation to the wallcreeper. They lack the stiff tail feathers of treecreepers and do not use their tail for supporting them while creeping vertically along tree trunks.
context_section_description: The species is found singly or in mixed species flocks, foraging on the trunks of trees. It has an undulating flight and moves up the trunk, starting off from near the base, sometimes on horizontal branches. When flying down to the base of a tree, it has the clumsy appearance of a quail landing in grass. They resemble nuthatches in the way they work up and down the trunk and do not work in the spiral manner of treecreepers. The tail is held away and sometimes clings upside down. They feed on small insects and spiders on the bark.
  Their calls are a series of rising tui-tui-tui notes and the song is a plaintive series of whistled notes tsip-tsee tuu tuui-tuwee having the quality of that of sunbird.
  The breeding season is February to May. The nest is a cup made of roots and stalks placed at the junction of a horizontal branch and the vertical trunk, often near a knot or other outgrowth that makes it very difficult to spot. The nest walls are pliant and soft but strong. The surface is decorated with spider webs, caterpillar frass and lichen. The inner lining is made from spider webs and other fine material. The usual clutch consists of two eggs, which are greenish or gray, spotted darker brown and blotched pale. The female alone incubates the eggs and is fed by the male with which it keeps in contact with a twittering call. Both parents take part in feeding the chicks.
caption: Basking in the morning
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