Identification - This member of the warbler group is the size of a large sparrow. It is a milk chocolate brown above and white below, which is heavily streaked with dark brown. Its eyes are large and dark, bordered by thin white eye rings. Atop its head is a long cap of orange bordered by dark brown.
Morsels - The Ovenbird is so-named because of the odd shape of its nest which it builds by mounding leaf litter over a depression in the ground. It lines the structure with fine grasses. The nest, which is difficult to see, resembles a small Dutch oven. It lays three to six white eggs which require 11 to 14 days of incubation. Occasionally a pair will raise two, or even three, broods in one season, particularly in forests where spruce budworm outbreaks are present.
