The Indian spotted creeper (Salpornis spilonota) is a small passerine bird that is a member of the family Salpornithidae, which was previously treated as a subfamily of Certhiidae. This small bird has a marbled black and white plumage that makes it difficult to spot as it forages on the trunks of dark, deeply fissured trees where it picks out insect prey using its curved bill. It is found in patchily distributed localities mainly in the dry scrub and open deciduous forests of northern and central peninsular India. It does not migrate. Their inclusion along with the treecreepers is not certain and some studies find them more closely related to the nuthatches while others suggest a close relation to the wallcreeper. They lack the stiff tail feathers of treecreepers and do not use their tail for supporting them while creeping vertically along tree trunks.

Description

The Indian spotted creeper has grey and white spotted and barred plumage, clearly different from the treecreepers of the family Certhiidae. It weighs up to 16 grams, twice as much as treecreepers of similar length (up to 15 cm). The Indian spotted creeper has a thin pointed down-curved bill, a bit longer than the head, that it uses to extricate insects from bark, but it lacks the stiff tail feathers which treecreepers use to prop themselves on the vertical surface of tree trunks. They have a whitish supercilium contrasting with a dark eye stripe and white on the throat.

The tarsus is stout and they have a long hind claw (average 8.9 ± 0.48 (s.d.) mm). The bill is 25.9±1.29 mm, the length of the wing is 88.5±2.76 mm and the tail is 53.8±2.05 mm long. In 2014, Dickinson & Christidis cited the rule that the species group epithet is invariable, so the species name was changed back to the spelling used in the original description as spilonota. Older works use the name "spotted grey creeper". Previously, some molecular studies had shown ambiguity in their relations, finding them more closely related to the nuthatches in the genus Sitta or the wallcreepers in genus Tichodroma, which is the basal group within the superfamily Certhioidea.

Distribution and habitat

left|thumb|Feeding behaviour of the spotted creeper

The African spotted creeper was formerly considered conspecific. Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, central India (Bandhavgarh, Jabalpur, Bastar district) Orissa, northern Andhra Pradesh (Adilabad, Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary). In the past the slightly paler plumaged population in the arid zone of the Aravalli hills was separated as a subspecies rajputanae by Richard Meinertzhagen (and his wife) but this is treated as part of a single population and combined into a single (nominate) subspecies.

The species is found mainly in habitats having trees with deeply fissured bark including those of Acacia, Diospyros, Tectona and mango.

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Indian Spotted Creeper (ssp.rajputanae) Tal Chappar WLS.jpg|In Rajasthan

Indian_Spotted_Creeper.jpg|Basking in the morning

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References

  • Spotted creeper at The Internet Bird Collection.
  • BirdLife Species Factsheet.