Ovenbird

I was sitting on the front porch a few days back enjoying a warm Spring morning, watching the usual birds on the feeders and on the lookout for any cool or new arrivals.  Even though he wasn't super spectacular, this little fellow caught my eye.

Can you find him?

How about now?  Here's a close up of the previous picture.  It took me a bit of research and some serious watching of this little bird to pin down an identification.  This is an ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla), the only member of the seiurus genus.  It gets its name from the nest it builds on the ground, a small woven nest that people thought resembled a Dutch Oven.

The ovenbird is mostly terrestrial, it stays on the ground rooting through leaves, or in our case mulch.  They are very similar to thrushes in appearance, but their terrestrial habit and close inspection of coloration make an identification possible.

I was pretty happy to be able to identify this new feathered friends.  It isn't the most colorful or dynamic bird, but it's always fun to identify a new garden visitor.