Few birds are as aptly named as the brown creeper. This small, reclusive bird is a winter resident in Missouri and is fairly common in residential areas. Usually solitary and easily overlooked, creepers circle up tree trunks, snaring insects and larvae from the bark crevices with their thin, curved bill. Once they reach the top of the central trunk, creepers fly to the base of another tree, relegating the smaller branches to chickadees, nuthatches and titmice.
The brown feathers of the creeper have a streaked appearance, blending the bird with the rutted bark on which it feeds. Its stiff tail feathers, similar to those of woodpeckers, provides a braking mechanism for this vertically-oriented hunter.
