Summary

  • Natural history: The Ovenbird takes its name from its domed nest, built right on the ground in a shape that recalls an old-fashioned oven, a detail so evocative that it helped inspire a poem by Robert Frost, New England’s best-known poet. Unlike most warblers, which typically lay four eggs, Ovenbird clutches usually hold five, though the species raises only one brood each year. It needs large, unbroken tracts of mature forest with a closed canopy and open understory, generally more than 250 acres, since nesting success drops sharply in smaller, fragmented woodlots.
  • Status in VT: Increased by 1% (176 to 177 blocks). Increase in Champlain Valley.
  • Data from other research: FBMP: no sig. trend
  • Conservation status: State rank S5B
  • Other atlases: NY: 9%; PA: 14%; ON: -22% in southern portion of province.
  • VT’s role in North American range: VT is within the core of the range.
  • Causes of change since first Atlas: Continued increase in mature forestland preferred by the species (?).
  • Management/Monitoring recommendations: No current recommendations.

Population Trends

Ovenbird graph

First Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (1976-1981)

Species Account

Second Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (2003 – 2007)

Species Account

Ovenbird Map 1Ovenbird Table 1Ovenbird Table 2

Change in Distribution

mapkeyOvenbird Map 2Ovenbird Table 3

Links

Vermont eBird

Encyclopedia of Life

All About Birds