New bird for the list: White-throated Housecreeper

[Julian Robinson <>]

As an exercise taking about 30 minutes on what I hoped would be a rainy
afternoon I had a go at extracting the info on this topic (White-throated
Treecreepers roosting in civilization) from the digitised Canberra Bird
Notes CBN.  

I might have missed some, but it demonstrates again what a great resource
the digitised CBN really is, especially with the aid of someone's good
memory to recall that a topic is covered 'somewhere'.

Julian

Chrono SUMMARY of White-throated Treecreeper mentions roosting in
houses etc

1) On 26 April 1954 one of two adult White-throated Tree-creepers
roosting in the loft above the stable at "Gungahlin" was caught
and banded by the late Robert Carrick.

2) 1965 ...it has been recorded roosting of a night in cave entrances and
mine tunnels, including the Cotter Cave in the ACT (Hamilton-Smith 1965,
Emu 65: 152-155)

3) In about 1976, a White-throated Tree-creeper was also observed for a
period of at least six months roosting on the wall under an over-hanging
roof at the entrance to the ladies toilet at the Australian National
Botanic Gardens

4) 1985 ...well-wooded inner suburb of Turner ...April 1985...a female
White-throated Treecreeper...installed herself in the dark well angle of
the high porch; the intervals between the bricks are enough to give her a
firm grip

5) 1994- At Myrtle Mountain west of Merimbula... a 40 ha property ...
clinging to the brick work under the extended back roof area of our
house.

FULL TEXTS

CANBERRA BIRD NOTES Volume 11 Number 4 Dec 1986
UNUSUAL ROOSTING OF A TREECREEPER
OHK Spate
We live in the well-wooded inner suburb of Turner, and
first became aware of the existence of "Creep", as we call
her, about the end of April 1985. Coming in the front door
one night, my hair was brushed by what I thought was a large
moth or a bat, entering the house, it turned out to be a
small dark bird, we got the bird out, without too much
damage to itself or the furnishings. We have since not been
allowed to forget her. On succeeding nights we found that
sometimes when we left the house after dark the bird flew
ahead of us to a large Eucalyptus melliodora only a few
metres from the front door and fully illuminated by the
porch light. At first we were charmed, but she was
distinctly careless in her toilet habits. Bryan FitzGerald
identified the bird as a female White-throated Treecreeper,
(Cormobates or Climacteris leucophaea) and agreed that this
was odd behaviour, but thought that about mid-June or early
July she would find a mate and reside elsewhere.
June came, and "Creep" stayed out late, perhaps all
night, or even for one period of twelve nights but
thereafter she returned. Since then she has come in every
night, about 8-9pm, and installed herself in the dark well
angle of the high porch; the intervals between the bricks
are enough to give her a firm grip. Normally she pays no
attention to our comings and goings, staying as if glued to
the wall in her corner, but when visitors are leaving she
sometimes flies off to the gum tree until this invasion of
her privacy is over, staying there in full view until quiet
is restored. After some 20 months of this, it seemed
appropriate to entice her away. A piece of cloth was placed
on her roost spot, thus discouraged she recently left.



CANBERRA BIRD NOTES    Volume 19 Number 4 December
1994
AN UNUSUAL ROOST SITE OF A WHITE-THROATED TREE-CREEPER
Alan Scrymgeour
At Myrtle Mountain west of Merimbula, my wife Lyn and I are working to
regenerate
and develop a 40 ha property to bring back and support its population of
Sugar Gliders
Petaurus breviceps and honeyeaters - especially the Scarlet Honeyeater
Myzomela
sanguinolenta. At night we often search the bushland with a powerful
torch built from
the landing light of an aircraft. On one such night the light illuminated
a little ball of
feathers clinging to the brick work under the extended back roof area of
our house.
Closer inspection revealed this to be a sleeping White-throated
Tree-creeper
Climacteris leucophaea. It was a great place for it to sleep, protected
from predation.
but it was windy and cold. During the next few months the bird moved to a
high gable
next to the disused nest of a Welcome Swallow Hirundo neoxena. This was a
better
place to sleep as it was not so windy but was still exposed to rain
gusts. Late one
Friday night, having just arrived after driving down from Canberra, I
switched on the
outside back light and alongside the door, at head level, 30 cm from my
eyes, was the
tree-creeper sound asleep with its head tucked in. The brick wall was
still warm from
the heat it had collected during the day. the roof was sheltering the
tree-creeper from
predation during the night, and the verandah line protecting it from all
wind.
Since then, by removing the droppings and watching the build-up of
fresh
droppings, I have discovered this tree-creeper uses the house as a
bedroom most nights.
Perhaps "Timbarra House" will one day be the sleeping quarters
for all this bird's
offspring. I hope so.
There is a similar account in Canberra Bird Notes of a female
White-throated
Tree-creeper which, for 20 months, roosted in the porch of a house in
Turner (Spate
1986, Canberra Bird Notes 11: 128). In about 1976, a White-throated
Tree-creeper
was also observed for a period of at least six months roosting on the
wall under an
over-hanging roof at the entrance to the ladies toilet at the Australian
National Botanic
Gardens (Nicola Clark pers. comm.).
Alan Scrymgeour, 2 Holroyd Street, WATSON ACT 2602




CANBERRA BIRD NOTES    Volume 21 Number 2 December
1996
AN EARLY RECORD OF WHITE-THROATED TREE-CREEPERS
ROOSTING IN A BUILDING IN THE ACT
David Purchase
There have been two reports in Canberra Bird Notes of White-browed
Tree-creepers
Cormobates leucophaeus roosting under the over-hanging roofs of buildings
(Spate
1986, Canberra Bird Notes 11: 128; Scrymgeour 1994, Canberra Bird Notes
19: 67).
In view of these reports the following record of the first White-throated
Tree-creeper
to be banded under the auspices of the then fledgling Australian
Bird-Banding
Scheme is of interest.
On 26 April 1954 one of two adult White-throated Tree-creepers roosting
in the loft
above the stable at "Gungahlin" was caught and banded by the
late Robert Carrick.
The bird was identified as "male?". The second bird was not
caught. There is no
record of the time of day when the bird was caught or whether it was ever
seen again.
At the time, "Gungahlin", which had recently become the
headquarters of the CSIRO
Wildlife Survey Section (now the Division of Wildlife and Ecology), was
in an
isolated patch of trees, including many exotic species, surrounded by
pasture and
savannah. It consisted of the homestead and a number of outbuildings. A
sketch of
the stable, which was demolished in the late 1950s, is contained in Old
Canberra - a
sketchbook of the 1920s by Eirene Mort (1987, National Library of
Australia:
Canberra). In 1954 the nearest suburb to "Gungahlin" was
O'Connor.
The association of this species with buildings is not altogether
surprising as it has
been recorded roosting of a night in cave entrances and mine tunnels,
including the
Cotter Cave in the ACT (Hamilton-Smith 1965, Emu 65: 152-155). It has
also been
recorded catching what were apparently small Diptera, on the walls of
caves up to
c. 45 m from the entrance (op. cit.).
David Purchase, 5 Orchard Place, MELBA ACT 2615








At 02:49 PM 28/02/2010, Philip Veerman wrote:
> Yes that sort of thing has been
> noted before or at least using houses as
> a night time roost. The GBS Report states: White-throated
> Treecreeper
> Cormobates leucophaeus
> An interesting species to have around suburban areas, as it is a
> forest
> or at least woodland inhabitant. ............ Some birds have even
> become quite tame, roosting overnight, clinging to available nooks
> on
> the sides of houses.  ...............
>
> That information comes from some record in CBN from years ago. Sorry
> I
> don't have the ref available..........
>
> Philip
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David McDonald
>  
> Sent: Saturday, 27 February 2010 2:27 PM
> To: CanberraBirds
> Subject: New bird for the list: White-throated
> Housecreeper
>
>
> We are all familiar with how White-throated Treecreepers methodically
> work their way up tree trunks and along branches, feeding as they
> go.
>
> This morning Noela observed one doing the same thing, but this time 
> working up the wall of our house! It is a brick wall, so presumably 
> cavities in the bricks and mortar provide homes for little spiders and
> other creatures upon which the treecreepers feed.
>
> David & Noela McDonald
>
> -- 
> David McDonald
> Canberra Ornithologists Group email lists manager
> T: 02 6238 3706
> M: 0416 231 890
> E: 
>
>
>
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