Editing Short-toed treecreeper (section)

===Breeding===
[[File:Certhia brachydactyla mauritanica Witherby, 1905, Souk Ahras.jpg|thumb|Eggs of ''Certhia brachydactyla'' [[MHNT]]]]
[[File:Short-toed Treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla)cropped.jpg|thumb|Adult foraging on a trunk]]
The short-toed nests in tree crevices or behind bark flakes. Old [[woodpecker]] nests, crevices in buildings or walls, and artificial nest boxes or flaps are also used.<ref name=Harrap/>

The nest has an often bulky base of twigs, pine needles, grass or bark, and a lining of finer material such as feathers, wool, moss, [[lichen]] or spider web. The eggs are laid between April and mid June (typical clutch 5&ndash;7 eggs); they are white with purple-red blotches, {{convert|15.6|x|12.2|mm|in|abbr=on}} in size. The eggs are incubated by the female alone for 13 – 15 days until the [[altricial]] downy chicks hatch; they are then fed by both parents, but brooded by the female alone, for a further 15 – 18 days to fledging.<ref name =BWP/> This species often raises a second brood. The male starts constructing a new nest while the female is still feeding the first brood, and when the chicks are 10–12 days old, he takes over feeding duties while the female completes the new nest.<ref name=Harrap/>

A Spanish study suggests that [[Habitat fragmentation|forest fragmentation]] adversely affects the numbers of short-toed treecreepers present, as is also the case with the common treecreeper. Species that depend on relatively scarce resources, such as tree trunks, only occupy the larger forests, whereas those such as [[tit (bird)|tits]] and [[common firecrest]]s that exploit abundant, ubiquitous resources are distributed uniformly through woodlands of all sizes.<ref name= Tellería >{{cite journal|last1= Tellería |first1= J. L. |last2=Santos|first2=T. |year=1995 |title= Effects of forest fragmentation on a guild of wintering passerines: The role of habitat selection |journal=Biological Conservation |volume=71 |issue=1 |pages=61&ndash;67| doi = 10.1016/0006-3207(94)00021-H }}</ref><ref name= Huhta>{{cite journal|last1= Huhta |first1= Esa |last2=Aho|first2=Teija |last3=Jäntti|first3=Ari |last4=Suorsa|first4=Petri |last5=Kuitunen|first5=Markku |last6=Nikula|first6=Ari |last7= Hakkarainen|first7=Harri  |date=February 2004 |title= Forest Fragmentation Increases Nest Predation in the Eurasian Treecreeper |journal= Conservation Biology|volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=148&ndash;155 | doi=10.1111/j.1523-1739.2004.00270.x}}</ref>