CREEPER encyclopedia topics

creeper, common name for members of a family of small, inconspicuous birds related to wrens and nuthatches. They are found in wooded regions of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. A creeper spirals up a tree trunk using its long, stiff tail as a prop and searches out minute insects with its long, downward-curved beak; it then swoops to the base of another tree to begin again. The most widely distributed member of the family is the brown creeper, Certhia familiaris, found in North America and Eurasia. It is 5 in. (13 cm) long, brown above and white below. Other North American creepers are the Rocky Mt., Sierra, and California creepers. Some warblers are also called creepers, e.g., the honey creeper. Creepers are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Passeriformes, family Certhiidae.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Virginia creeper

Virginia creeper, native woody vine (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) of the family Vitaceae (grape family), tall growing and popular as a wall covering in the temperate United States. It has blue-black berries and clings by disk-tipped tendrils, some branches hanging free in graceful festoons. The five-fingered leaves—brilliant yellow to red in the fall—are sometimes confused with the three-fingered poison ivy. The Virginia creeper belongs to the same genus as the Boston, or Japanese, ivy. Other names are American ivy, woodbine, and ampelopsis. Virginia creeper is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Rhamnales, family Vitaceae.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Creeper
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