SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 
177 
The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 124(1): 177-179, 2012 
Breeding of the Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) in Central America 
Carlos Funes , 1 Oscar Bolanos , 1 and Oliver Komar 1 - 23 
ABSTRACT—We report the first nesting record of 
the Central American population of Brown Creeper 
(Certhia americana) in the La Montanona pine-oak 
(Pinus-Quercus) forest of Chalatcnango Department, 
nnnhem El Sahador. The nest was in a cavity in the 
trunk of a pine \ Pouts oocarpa) tree. Most insectivorous 
birds in this region breed during the rainy season when 
insects are generally most abundant; however, nesting 
of the Brown Creeper occurred at the height of the dry 
season, during January and February'. Received IV.April 
-Oil. Accepted 15 August 2011. 
The avian breeding season in the tropics is less 
well defined than in temperate zones, where 
bleeding is constricted by climate. Avian breeding 
in tropical areas can extend over a longer period; 
some species, especially columbids, may breed 
year-round. Nectarivores such as hummingbirds 
(Trochilidae) and tlowerpiercers (Dig I ossa spp.) 
typically breed during the dry season, when many 
plants are in flower. Most insectivorous birds lime 
their breeding to match hatching with the onset of 
the rainy season, when insect abundance greatly 
increases (Sketch 1950). El Salvador, in northern 
Central America, has extremely marked wet and 
dry seasons. Most hatching of insectivorous birds 
occurs in May and June, similar to the breeding 
season in North American temperate zones 
'Dickey and van Rossem 1938). 
The Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) is an 
insectivorous bark gleaner, distributed from North 
America to Mexico, and through mountainous 
areas of Guatemala and Honduras to northwest 
Nicaragua (Hejl et al. 2002). The species has been 
lou nd since 1999 in all major pine-oak (Pinus- 
Quercus) forests of El Salvador along the northern 
border near Honduras between 1.175 and 1.850 m 
elevation (Komar 2002; OK, unpubl. data).The 
population resident in the mountains of eastern 
fn'grama de Ciencias para la Conservation, SalvaNA- 
Tf RA.Colonia Flor Blanca, 33 Avenida Sur #640. San Sal - 
v ador, El Salvador. 
Present address: Instituto Regional de Biodiversidad. 
Zamnrano University. Km 33. Carretera a Danlf. Francisco 
Moraztm, Honduras. 
Corresponding author; e-mail; okomar@zamorano.edu 
Guatemala, Honduras, northwestern Nicaragua, 
and presumably El Salvador, is known as Certhia 
americana extima. one of 13 recognized subspe¬ 
cies (Hejl el al. 2002). Hejl et al. (2002) report 
nesting in U.S. and Canada from April through 
July, and Land (1962) collected a male in Sierra 
de las Minas in eastern Guatemala with partially 
enlarged testes on 5 March. 
We encountered an active nest ot Brown 
Creeper during field work on the ecology of 
wintering birds in pine-oak forests. We observed 
the nest briefly during 2 days, documenting it with 
measurements and photographs, and observing 
behavior of the adults and nestlings. 
OBSERVATIONS 
Nest observations occurred during 1130-1230 
and 1520-1625 hrs on 5 February 2010 at the La 
Montanona Forest, a protected natural area. We 
returned to photograph the nest and nestlings on 6 
February 2010. This site is in the central part of 
Chalatenango Department. El Salvador, near the 
Honduras border. The specific site ol the nest 
observation was 14 08' 39" N, 88 54' 25" W at 
1,470 m elevation in the La Laguna municipality. 
The natural area contains -2,500 ha of pine-oak 
forest, ranging from 900 to 1,600 m elevation. 
An active Brown Creeper nest was located in a 
natural cavity ~5 m above ground in the trunk of 
a 25-m pine (Pinas oocarpa ), in somewhat open 
pine-oak forest. The cavity had a single entrance 
(Fig. 1 A). The nest cavity was 28 cm high, from 
the nest cup at its base to the cavity roof, and 
13 cm deep. Cavity width ranged from 2 to 5 cm. 
The nest cup, constructed mostly of dry pine 
needles, beard lichen (probably Usnea sp.), and 
mosses, measured ~5 cm in diameter (Fig. IB). 
Wc observed two adults taking turns feeding three 
nestlings and removing fecal sacs from the nest. The 
adults, often together, visited the nest every 2 to 
30 min (n = 8. mean ± SD = 10.1 ± 9.5 min). A 
passing Ivory-billed Woodcreeper (Xiphoriiynchus 
flcivigaster) extracted one of the nestlings while we 
watched, and flew away with the nestling hanging 
from its bill, dropping the nestling before disappear¬ 
ing. some 50 m distant near a ravine. 
