Distinctive very dark bird with large feet, most often seen running up and down the sides of trees in dry forest, savanna, and moist lowland forest of northern Australia, where it is the only treecreeper species.
Not listed
Endemic to Australia
At a glance
FamilyAustralasian Treecreepers
SizeSmall
RarityUncommon
HabitatC. m. wellsi Ogilvie-Grant, 1909 – Only found in the Pilbara region of northwest Western Australia, between the De Grey and Fortescue Rivers.
Best timeMost reliable in Northern Territory from June to October.
Sounds
Sound sampleRecorded by Louis Masarei
Range map
Range map
697visible hotspots
5112visible records
3states
Low confidenceMediumHigh confidence
Aggregated occurance data is sourced from 14 different actively-updating datasets including eBird Australia, iNaturalist Australia, BirdLife Australia, and multiple state-based bird surveys through Atlas of Living Australia.
Species notes
Overview
Uniformly rich, dark brown, almost black, with white streaks on the throat. In flight. shows bold tan wingbars. The western subspecies (wellsi) has reddish-brown underparts.
Behavior
Call is a slow, repeated
Gallery
Regional timing
Queensland
Northern Territory
Western Australia