Indian Spotted Creeper...

This beautiful bird has been called the Lata Mangeshkar of India - a bird with such sweet vocalisations that it will floor one and all with them. 

Recollecting a couple of decades back I can vaguely recall seeing this bird but with poorly kept records by me - I may have been mistaken. All the same, a visit to Tal Chhapar in Rajasthan gave me this wonderful opportunity to see this again - and see it to the point of spending quality time with this little friend.

The hunt started for this bird after reaching Tal Chhapar - with our bird guide telling us that he along with the Forest officer there had spent the entire day searching for this bird in vain. I was little doubtful myself but then a birder has to do what a birder has to do...

We reached the forest patch where this bird is generally seen and were about to start our search when I almost shouted with joy - the bird was sitting not feet and a half above my birding partner's head on a tree. We started taking pictures after recovering from the initial excitement and I would have clicked a zillion of them...

Indian Spotted Creeper is a small passerine bird with had been placed with the treecreepers in the family certhiidae. This bird is endemic to India. The bird has a marbled black and white plumage that makes it difficult to spot as it forages on the trunks of dark and deeply fissured trees. It is a perfect match with its surroundings. 

There are two Creepers worldwide - the African and the Indian Spotted Creeper - earlier placed as one species as Spotted Grey Creeper with the African as a subspecies. In 2010 molecular and vocal studies placed the African bird as a distinct species. The Spotted creepers are clearly different from the treecreepers as the tails lack the stiff feathers used by treecreepers to prop themselves on the vertical surface of tree trunks. The wing is long and pointed with highly reduced first primary feather. The tail has twelve feathers and is square.

This small bird has a marbled black and white plumage that makes it difficult to spot as it forages on the trunks of dark, deeply fissured trees where it picks out insect prey using its curved bill. It is found in patchily distributed localities mainly in the dry scrub and open deciduous forests of northern and central peninsular India. Please check out the video below.

The bird has a very sweet song. The bird song is embedded in the end of this blog article...

The bird has been sighted in central India. The bird is nowhere common but best place to perhaps see the bird is in Rajasthan.