Ovenbird, bluebirds make fall visits

Two much-loved bird species appeared at the Fields Pond Audubon Center last week.

The first was a beautiful ovenbird, with immaculate plumage – a smooth, dark olive brown on its back and wings, a bright white eye-ring, a stripe of orange lined with black on its head, and bright white flanks and breast lined with jet-black streaks. One is always fortunate to see an ovenbird.

An ovenbird with brand new plumage is a sight to keep in memory throughout the winter. Its TeaCHER TeaCHER TeaCHER song won’t reverberate through the forest again ’til next May.

This species is named for its nest, shaped like a foot-high, black, thick-walled, cast-iron Dutch oven. It – the Dutch oven, not the nest – has a domed cast-iron cover.

The ovenbird’s nest is made on the ground, and is the size of a teacup. It has a domed “roof” of twigs, roots, leaves and pine needles, making it hard to see on the ground, in the forest.

The next species to show up was a beauty too – bluebirds, about a dozen of them. It was a special treat to see them now, because bluebirds did not make nests in our birdhouses this summer. In the last nine years, they raised their young, sometimes more than one brood. This year, they did not, for unknown reasons.

These dozen bluebirds spent several days at the Audubon Center, feeding and looking over the birdhouses. They perched on signs, the roof and shrubs near our gravel parking lot, looking down for beetles and crickets. When they spotted one, down they flew to capture it with their bill.

They also perched on the tops of the birdhouses, and even went inside.

They were scoping out sites to nest next summer. Let’s hope our facilities passed their inspection.

Even though I consider the fall migration a highlight of this season, it is hard to part with the birds who brought such joy in the spring.

For information on Fields Pond Audubon Center, call 989-2591.