Hodgson's Treecreeper
Certhia hodgsoni
Beer-bellied tree-climber with intricately patterned brown upperparts, white underparts, and a decurved bill. Combination of rusty rump, unstriped brown tail, and clean underparts distinguish this species from other similar treecreepers in its range. All but identical to Eurasian Treecreeper, but no range overlap; confined to the Himalayas and Central China. Favors conifers but can also be found in mixed and broadleaf forests. Song begins with a few high thin notes and devolves into a buzzy twitter.
Identification
This is a small bird, 12.5 cm (4.9 in) long, of fairly drab appearance. It is brownish with lighter and darker streaks above, and off-white below and on the supercilium. It is browner above than the common treecreeper (C. familiaris), with a contrasting rufous rump. It has a long curved bill and long stiff tail feathers.<p>The song starts with two of the shree calls characteristic for this species and its close relatives. Then follow one or a few warbling calls, and finally (usually) two up- and downslurring notes. Each sound is about 0.3 seconds long, and the whole song takes about 2 to 2.5 seconds. It drops in pitch at a constant rate from around 7.5 kHz initially to 6 kHz, slurring down to 4 kHz once or twice in the end.
Taxonomy
It has three subspecies, from west to east:<p>This treecreeper was formerly included in the common treecreeper (C. familiaris), but is now believed to constitute a distinct species. It is the southeastern representative of the Holarctic lineage of treecreepers, most closely related to its sister species C. familiaris and to the North Atlantic superspecies short-toed treecreeper (C. brachydactylata) and American treecreeper (C. americana).<p>Though the Certhiidae are very diverse in the Himalayan region, the other species found there belong to a lineage distinct from Hodgson's treecreeper. While the present species is an allopatric offshoot of the Holarctic group, the other Himalayan treecreepers are parapatric members of a group that probably radiated out from the subtropical southern China region.<p>The English and scientific names of this species commemorate Brian Houghton Hodgson, a 19th-century English naturalist and ethnologist working in British India.
- Scientific name
- Certhia hodgsoni
- Authority
- Brooks, WE, 1871
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Certhiidae
- Genus
- Certhia
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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