A murder of crows, a parliament of owls, a colony of gulls, a raft of ducks…but what would you call a collection of Brown Creepers? Over the weekend we had a fun (but cold) outing with our local bird club and while the bird diversity was a bit low, the birds we saw were enjoyable.
For starters, we found what we identified as an “Oregon” race of Dark-eyed Junco. This photo was taken by Dakota who was briefly borrowing the camera to practice on feeder birds.
Then, we found a large gathering of Brown Creepers in the woods. There were about six or seven of these birds in a group, which according to Pete Dunne’s Essential Field Guide Companion, rarely number in more than six at a time. It was something that no one in our group had witnessed before. So, due to their cryptic coloration, we decided to call this a Crypt of Creepers.
Lastly, we found this strange looking Canada Goose which we were unsure if it was some sort of hybrid or just some sort of color aberration with a long scientific sounding name that essentially means “oddly colored”.
Not sure about the goose, but a “crypt of creepers” is a fantastic name.
And after all, wintertime cemeteries are among the best places to find them.
That’s a clear Oregon Junco–great find. And the goose is a funny one indeed; the terms are all mixed up, of course, but I’d have called it leucistic: the pigments in the body and wings are present but imperfectly expressed.
“Crypt of creepers?” *ROFL!* That’s great!
I love following the creepers as they thouroughly discover all of the nooks and crannies of older trees, helping to keep them healthy and in balance.
What a Cryptically odd goose you have there! I love Brown Creeprs. How amazing to see so many. 2 at a time is the high count for me!