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.
Brown Creeper
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!