Family:
The wallcreeper is a small passerine bird with rounded wings, and a short, square tail. The adult male in breeding plumage has blue-grey plumage with darker flight feathers and tail. It has a distinctive bright red and black pattern on the wings, and two white spots on each of the four outer primaries. The underwing coverts and auxiliaries are paler pinkish-red.
It has a grey crown and nape, black lores, cheeks, and ear coverts, and extensive black throat patch. The black bill is long, thin, and curves slightly downwards and it has large feet with long toes and strong claws.
The female wallcreeper has a pale grey upper breast with a black line on the throat. Out of breeding season both sexes are paler and the black on the throat turns white.
It is an unmistakable creeper, spending its time fluttering and climbing around cliffs and rocks with a springy, bouncy action while flicking its wings.
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Wallcreepers are insectivores. They mainly eat terrestrial insects and spides that they pick out from crevices rock faces. They will also sometimes hunt flying insects.
Wallcreepers are found in southern Europe, north Africa, and central Asia. They inhabit high mountains at elevations ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 m above sea level but will move to lower land during the winter and can sometimes be found in buildings and quarries.
