Grimpereau brun

Identification

Adult birds are around 16.5 centimetres (6.5 in) long, with a wingspan of 26 centimetres (10 in), and weigh on average around 31.5 grams (1.11 oz). Adult plumage is light grey-brown above with light grey face and neck, darker grey on the crown with dark ear-coverts. The supercilium is prominent and pale on adults, while grey and indistinct on juveniles. The throat is cream to white and pale brown on the breast. The lower breast is streaked with fine black-grey and white. In flight a dark wing-bar is visible. Sexes of the species differ in plumage, with the uppermost breast of the male streaked black and white, while the female has rufous and white streaking. Juvenile plumage is different from that on the adult with the hind-neck, nape, crown and forehead darker than that of adult males.<p>The call has been described as a spink spink.

Taxonomie

Coenraad Jacob Temminck and Meiffren Laugier de Chartrouse described the brown treecreeper in 1824, and it still bears its original name today. It is one of six species of treecreeper found in Australia, and is most closely related to the rufous treecreeper (Climacteris rufus) of Western Australia and the black-tailed treecreeper (C. melanurus). All three occupy similar savannah and open woodland habitat, and have a sexually dimorphic marking on the upper breast or throat (black in the male, reddish in the female). They are thought to have been separated by breaks in suitable habitat in the past and hence diverged genetically.<p>Three subspecies have been described – subspecies picumnus is broadly distributed from the Grampians, Victoria, through central New South Wales to the Bunya Mountains, Queensland. The subspecies can be found in coastal catchments and drier areas on and west of the Great Divide, intergrading with subspecies victoriae, which is found on the Great Dividing Range from south-east Queensland to the Grampians, Victoria. Subspecies melanotus occurs from Cape York Peninsula south to near Cooktown, Queensland. Known as the black treecreeper, it has distinctive sooty brown plumage and is slightly smaller than the southern subspecies.<p>Woodpecker is a colloquial name, from its habit of spiralling up treetrunks.

Nom scientifique

Climacteris picumnus

Autorité

Temminck, 1824

Ordre

Passériformes

Famille

Climacteridae

Genre

Climacteris

Répartition et habitat

Migration

Resident species

Conservation

The conservation status of the brown treecreeper is considered of "least concern" by the IUCN, while the subspecies victoriae, is listed in New South Wales as Vulnerable under Schedule 2 of the Threatened Species Conservation Act (1995). Subspecies victoriae is listed as nationally Vulnerable by DCCEEW (Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water), under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999).

Tendance de la population

declining