White-throated treecreepers (Cormobates leucophaea) are common here. They often travel in pairs, flying from tree to tree, working their way up the trunks as they hunt for ants and other insects.
One of their regular spots is a tree about four metres from the kitchen door. They drop in just before dusk, when the light has faded and it is almost impossible to get a good handheld shot with the long lens.Most of the time I don't even try to take a photo and am content to watch the birds go about their business. Sometimes, I give it a go and nearly succeed.
John Gould recorded that "[w]hile traversing the trunks in search of insects, which it does with great facility, it utters a shrill piping cry'. This call reminded him of the European Climacteris treecreepers (to which it is related), as did the way in which it ascended the "upright trunks of the trees, commencing at the bottom and gradually creeping up to the bole at the top, generally in a spiral direction."
You can listen to the call of the white-throated treecreeper here. My birds are less voluble than Gould's birds. I hardly ever hear them. Perhaps they don't like to talk with their beaks full of food?
