Red-browed Treecreepers inhabit the tall, humid eucalypt forests of coastal south-eastern Australia from near Gympie in Queensland through to the Dandenong Range near Melbourne. They live in pairs or family groups in permanent territories. Easily overlooked, they often occur side by side with White-throated Treecreepers and when foraging high up in the branches, their distinguishing marks are not always easy to make out. The Red-browed Treecreeper is one of our communal species - young ones remain in the territory for more than one year and assist the adults with nesting.

When feeding, Red-browed Treecreepers start at the bottom of a tree trunk, or sometimes on debris on the ground and work their way up the trunk and right up into the higher branches before planing down to the base of a nearby tree to repeat the process. Their staccato, very high-pitched calls are given at intervals, often by two or more birds at once but even so, blend well into the sounds of the forest and are easy to miss, or mistake for some sort of thornbill.(Listen on sound page)