THE OVENBIRD

(Seiurus aurocapillus)

 

      The smallest, and yet the loudest in the forest! This small bird, while foraging and nesting on the forest floor among all sorts of predators, has a song that is also unmistakable and unforgettable! (listen!) Note how the sound builds up in loudness. The literature characterizes the song as:

teacher!,teacher!,teacher!,teacher!,

  I've heard it many times in cottage country. I find it amazing that this bird comes all the way up from the Tropics and manages to successfully raise a family of helpless chicks in a nest on the forest floor.

     Note that the ROM does not list this bird as a common Metropolitan Toronto bird and I must confess that I have seldom heard its song around Toronto.

     Here's another photograph of an Ovenbird in her nest. The photo, by Aarre Ertolahti, was taken at his camp lot at Pearl Harbour, Black Bay, Lake Superior while doing breeding bird surveys for the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas in the summer of 2003.

© A. Ertolahti

 

      The best descriptive essay on the Ovenbird that I have come across is that written by the late Mary E. Richard of the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary in Oyster Bay, New York. The article is from their 1997 archives and I recommend that you visit the Sanctuary (at least via the web).

 

Species Profile: The Ovenbird

By Mary E. Richard

      If you hear a bird singing "Teacher, Teacher, Teacher, Teacher" building in loudness in the forest, you are listening to the Ovenbird. Although this warbler of the forest floor is small, his song is huge and not very musical. The Ovenbird has a warm brown back, pink legs, a speckled chest and a striped tan and orange crown. It is a very difficult task to spot the bird moving through the forest with its bobbing tail and teetering walk, but it is easy to hear. Many birders have spent a long time searching for the elusive little bird. It sounds so loud you figure it must be right under your nose, but it still can't be found.

Ovenbirds are so named because of the nests they build on the forest floor of leaves, grass and hair. The nests have an opening on the side like a Dutch oven. They eat worms, spiders, and lots of arthropods found on the forest floor. They spend the winter in Central America, the Caribbean, or northern South America. Since Ovenbirds live in dense forests and have difficulty recognizing cowbird eggs they are frequently a host for cowbirds. In large forested areas like the Great Smokies and Adirondacks that don't have as many cowbirds or edge predators they are doing well, but on Long Island their population has decreased dramatically.

While walking in the forest recently and looking up at a Rose breasted Grosbeak, I heard a scrambling sound in the leaves. Looking down I discovered an Ovenbird pretending it had seriously injured it's wings and attempting to distract my attention. It turned out, I was standing about a foot away from its well-camouflaged nest. The parent was frantic and flopped around on the ground until I followed it about 50 feet away from the nest. At that time it stood upright and flew quickly away. I have frequently observed this behaviour with Piping Plovers and Killdeer, but never a little songbird like the Ovenbird. My meeting with an Ovenbird made my walk an enlightening experience. - Mary E. Richard

 

PHOTO CREDITS:

  Aarre Ertolahti publishes a Finnish language weekly newspaper "Canadan Sanomat " in Thunder Bay, Ontario. and is also webmaster of the Thunder Bay Field Naturalists ( TBFN ).   Many more of his photographs can be found at both of these websites.

     He has a section (with photos) on the use of digital cameras at: "Bird Closeups with a Digital Camera" )

      Additional photographs by Aarre Ertolahti can also be found in the "Birding", "Gray Jay", and "Nuthatch" pages of this website.

REFERENCE LINKS:

TRS Visit the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary. (Quiz - What bird is shown on the TRS logo?)   Please note that this site may be temporarily unavailable.

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