[4] The pipipi was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[5][6] Gmelin based his description on the "New-Zealand titmouse" that had been described in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds.

[7] The naturalist Joseph Banks had provided Latham with a watercolour painting of the bird by Georg Forster who had accompanied James Cook on his second voyage to the Pacific Ocean.

[8][9] The pipipi is now placed with the whitehead and yellowhead in the genus Mohoua that was introduced in 1837 by the French naturalist René Lesson.

It was moved to the genus Mohoua based on the results of a molecular genetic study published in 2013 that found that the pipipi was closely related to the yellowhead and whitehead.

[13] Juveniles are distinguishable by having a greyer head, i.e. less reddish-brown, in addition to lacking the white stripe behind the eye.

Their conversational song is also relatively indistinct (raspy calls) compared to other small bird species, making them further difficult to identify.

[13] The brown creeper song consists of short and attractive warbles, very distinct from other species, however the “conversational chatter” can be easily confused for other small bush dwelling birds.

[15] Common on some off shore islands in Fiordland (Secretary, Resolution and Chalky) and Marlborough Sounds (D’Urville, Arapawa and Maud).

[13] When it comes creating nests for raising young, brown creepers prefer dense vegetation up in the canopy of the forest.

[13] They drastically declined when Europeans arrived in New Zealand and it is thought that this was caused by the destruction of lowland forest.

[15] Pairs will strongly defend their territory during the breeding season and to a lesser extent during the rest of the year as well.

Males will not only guard the females during the 2–3 days prior to the eggs being laid but during the first part of the laying period as well.

Female brown creepers will normally have two clutches per season with egg laying peaks in early October and late November.

Brown creepers can also be seen during the summer months feeding a long-tailed cuckoo chick that is much larger than themselves.

During the first week out of the nest, juveniles will huddle together during the daylight hours so that their tail feathers can grow and their wings can become stronger.

These flocks usually include loose family groups, juveniles and occasionally other pairs when outside of the breeding season.

[20] Brown creepers have also been known to mob long-tailed cuckoos when they are present in spring and summer as a form of prevention.

Brown creepers have been observed mobbing cats, stoats, rats, larger birds, and even humans.

[19] Brown creeper numbers declined soon after European settlement due to the introduction of cats, rats and mustelids.

[2] There has been some research done that may indicate the use of UV wavelength light in brown creepers' ability to recognize long-tailed cuckoo eggs.

[22] The research showed that both the brown creeper and yellowhead lacked a short-wavelength sensitive (SWS1) opsin gene which has large effects on the range of light that can be seen.

is the family brown creepers belong to) will effect its ability to use colour cues to recognize foreign eggs from long-tailed cuckoos.

[19] In the late 19th century when flocks of pipipi were still abundant, they would occasionally descend on slaughteryards in sheep stations when food was short to feed on the meat of butchered animals.