Working Upside Down

Meet the Brown Creeper.  Here is a bird that has a unique tool bag of qualifications that enables it to work upside down with ease. A pair of widely spread sharp claws allow good grip, long stiff pointed tail feathers provide stabilization, and then notice the uniquely curved bill that allows it to search the cracks and crevices for bugs. Brown Creepers have the habit of working an old oak or fir tree from the bottom up, but once it comes to a limb, then it seems to prefer hanging upside down as it works back and forth on the limb.  Because of their camouflaging colors, they are almost impossible to see as they work their way up a trunk, that is until they move.  The attending story is I spotted two of these guys busy working in a group of oak trees at the Audubon Nature Reserve during a brief sunny period this morning.  Much to my surprise as I was busy photographing, a Sharp Shinned Hawk suddenly made a fast strike, only to pull up fast when he noticed me.  After a quick stop on a nearby limb he took his frustration out by chasing off a cluster of three Northern Flickers.