What is "woodcreeper"

n. Any of many neotropical passerine birds of the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae.

n. any of numerous South American and Central American birds with a curved bill and stiffened tail feathers that climb and feed like woodpeckers [syn: woodhewer, wood-creeper, tree creeper]

The woodcreepers (Dendrocolaptinae) comprise a subfamily of sub-oscine passerine birds endemic to the Neotropics. They have traditionally been considered a distinct family Dendrocolaptidae, but most authorities now place them as a subfamily of the ovenbirds (Furnariidae). They superficially resemble the Old World treecreepers, but they are unrelated and the similarities are due to convergent evolution. The subfamily contains around 57 species in 15 to 20 genera.

Woodcreepers range from 14 to 35 centimetres in length. Generally brownish birds, the true woodcreepers maintain an upright vertical posture, supported by their stiff tail vanes.

They feed mainly on insects taken from tree trunks. However, woodcreepers often form part of the core group at the centre of flocks attending army ant swarms. Woodcreepers are arboreal cavity-nesting birds; two or three white eggs are laid and incubated for about 15 to 21 days.

These birds can be difficult to identify in that they tend to have similar brown upperparts, and the more distinctive underparts are hard to see on a bird pressed against a trunk in deep forest shade. The bill shape, extend/shape of spots/streaks, and call are useful aids to determining species.