Breeding Location:
Forests, coniferous
Breeding Type:
Monogamous, Solitary nester
Breeding Population:
Common to fairly common
Egg Color:
White with gray or brown flecks
Number of Eggs:
3 - 6
Incubation Days:
11 - 14
Egg Incubator:
Female
Nest Material:
Leaves, grasses, stems, rootlets, mosses and hair.
Migration:
Migratory
Recommended Products:
General
Ovenbird: Medium-sized, ground walking warbler with olive-brown upperparts and heavily spotted white underparts. Head has a dull orange central crown stripe, bold white eye-ring, and black eyebrows. Wings and tail are olive-green. Legs are pink, stout, and long. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is duller and has olive-brown crown stripe.
Range and Habitat
Ovenbird: Breeds from west-central Canada east to Maritimes, and south to the northern Gulf Coast states and South Carolina. Spends winters from the Gulf Coast and Florida to South America. Preferred habitats include mature, dry forests with little undergrowth.
Breeding and Nesting
Ovenbird: Three to six white eggs, flecked with gray or brown, are laid in a domed or oven-shaped nest with a side entrance. Nest is made of dead leaves and plant fibers, lined with grass, and built on the ground. Incubation ranges from 11 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.
Foraging and Feeding
Ovenbird: Feeds on insects, spiders, snails, and worms; also eats seeds and other vegetation during winter; forages while walking on the ground.
Readily Eats
Sugar Water, Fruit, Nut Pieces
Vocalization
Ovenbird: Emits a loud staccato song of "teacher, teacher, teacher" with geographical variation in emphasis. The flight song, often given at night, is a bubbling and exuberant series of jumbled notes ending with the familiar "teacher, teacher."
Similar Species
Ovenbird: Louisiana and Northern waterthrushes have a white to yellow stripe behind eyes, and lack eye-rings and black borders on crowns.
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