Hi Tweets,

I was in a clearing in Lincoln Park the other day, near the base of a Doug Fir, photographing a very cooperative Pacific-slope Flycatcher. I wasn't surprised to see a couple of Brown Creepers fly to the bottom of the tree and start to work their way up it, since I knew they liked this particular tree. But I was surprised when one flew back to the bottom, not far from where I was very obviously standing, then flattened itself against the trunk and laid its head sideways. If I hadn't watched this but had just come upon it, I would have thought it was dead (if I'd noticed it at all, it blended in so well). After a while, it got back up and worked its way up the tree. It did this a couple more times, then a second one came and also flattened itself in what I learned later was a concealment behavior, so both birds at once were flattened against the bark, perhaps 18" apart. (Unfortunately, I only had my 300mm lens and couldn't tiptoe back far enough to photograph both birds at once.)

Later a friend told me he's seen what he thinks is a Creeper nest crack in that tree. Is that the most likely explanation for this behavior? I was so startled to see the birds basically fly toward me and then seem to try to hide, when they would have stayed a lot more hidden if they'd just kept to the side of the tree away from me.

Photos are at flickr.com/photos/trileigh.

Good birding to all,
Trileigh

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Trileigh Tucker
Lincoln Park, West Seattle
Naturalpresence.wordpress.com