Adults are brown on the upper parts with light spotting, resembling a piece of tree bark, with white underparts.

Brown creepers have occurred as vagrants to Bermuda and Central America's mountains in Guatemala, Honduras and the northern cordillera of El Salvador.

Since 1966 the brown creeper has experienced a yearly 1.5% population increase throughout the northeastern and northwestern (Pacific coast) regions of its range.

[6] The first breeding brown creepers in the Northwest Territories were detected in 2008, in the Liard Valley, which may be a result of northern range expansion.

[7] Brown creepers have been recorded breeding in the dry season (January–February) in Chalatenango Department, El Salvador, a behaviour unusual to insectivorous birds and shared in the region only by the golden-fronted woodpecker.

[8] Thirteen subspecies are recognised:[9] The species has declined in much of North America but appears to be doing well in Washington, with a small (not significant) increase on the state's breeding bird survey since 1966.

In Wyoming, brown creepers have been recognized as preferring habitat within large, intact and mature stands of spruces, firs, or lodgepole pine.

Conservation efforts in the province have focused on maintaining unmanaged patches with high densities of trees and snags in mature forest.