Ovenbird!

While walking on a trail at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Maine I fell on a bit of silence. I was scouting for a Nikon field trip the next day. I was on the trail in the middle of the day and outside of the zillions of skitters that were buzzing my ear there was not a peep to be heard. Until I felt something flutter underneath my feet. I got a bit startled and jumped back. I flipped up the Monarch X binoculars I was using at the time and noticed an Ovenbird perched thirty feet away from me. It appeared I inadvertently spooked the bird off of the nest. Ovenbirds seem to not mind much since they build their nests near trails and roads often, really liking to build with medium amounts of vegetation around. I stood there for only a few minutes, enough to grab some shots, but I wanted to get out of there immediately so as not to disturb the bird. This lady wouldn't move an inch indicating that she was probably stresses a little bit.

Ovenbird is named in reference to the family of Ovenbirds that exist in Central and South America. Although this Ovenbird and the ones down there have nothing in common except they all build dome-shaped nests on the ground that resemble, what? Can you guess? Yes, an oven! Our Ovenbird is placed in the family with warblers. They eat mostly insects and breed in hardwood deciduous forests with minimal understory. Look for trees like Maples and Oaks in the canopy.

What can you see on the bird that jumps out first? I notice a huge eye which the Catharus genus thrushes won't have. Ovenbirds have a large head, thick light-colored bill, and strong spots on the upper breast and flanks. Wings are blunt tipped more so than our North American thrushes as well as having a much shorter tail. Also, notice the plump body structure on this bird whereas our thrushes (i.e. Swainson's Thrush) would show a much slimmer profile.

Keep in mind that all Catharus thrushes, in flight, will have a cream-colored bar on the undersides of the wing. With a flight shot, you could easily separate an Ovenbird and a Catharus thrush in flight, as I just learned.

I hope you enjoy this little tidbit. I recently took a shot of a bird that was either an ovenbird or a thrush, so I consulted some other birders and they had some unique insight as to how to easily ID the birds in flight. Thought I would share this with you. Good Birding!