NFCs: Ovenbird

The Ovenbird has a distinctive and common call for NFCers in Vermont.

Published References

Evans and O'Brien (2002):

An explosive, piercing, slightly rising "seet" with a faintly sibilant quality. Sometimes a more abrupt "pseek".

And:

Primarily a nocturnal migrant but engages in limited redetermined migration. Gives flight call regularly while perched and in flight during the day, and during nocturnal migration. Gives flight song occasionally in nocturnal migration, particularly near breeding habitat.

Pieplow (2017):

Sreet ... rising, mostly clear. ... All year, often by night migrants. Some versions grade into Tsweet

Stephenson and Whittle (2013) note:

Clear: long, high, a bit shrill; more Complex toward end; distinctive.

And

Rising, long high, shrill

Dunn and Garrett (1997):

Flight note, not often heard, is a thin, high seee.

Curson et al. (1994) note "a thin, high-pitched 'seee,' given in flight."

Birds of the World (Porneluzi et al. 2020) mentions many Ovenbird calls, but doesn't distinguish any of them as the flight call, much less the nocturnal flight call.

Call Description

All measurements come from Evans and O'Brien (2002), who has a sample size of N=6.

Duration (ms): 40.1-51.8
Frequency (kHz): 6.2-9.4 (6.8-8.6)
Bandedness: Single
Shape: "Most often is was seahorse-shaped with an initial short upward-arched segment followed by a longer rising and typically downward-arched segment." (Evans and O'Brien 2002)
Modulation: 4.7-6.3 (5.6) mS. Note that this is in the second part of the call.
Distance to Max. Amplitude (ms): Unknown
Min. Freq. (kHz): Unknown
Max. Freq. (kHz): Unknown
Bandwidth (kHz): 300-500 (400) Hz
Peak Freq. at Start (kHz): Unknown
Peak Freq. at End (kHz): Unknown
Peak Freq. at Centre (kHz): Unknown
Peak Freq. at Max. Amplitude (kHz): Unknown
Number of Freq. Modulations: Unknown
Freq. Modulation: Start to End: Unknown
Freq. Modulation: Min. to Max.: Unknown
Freq. Modulation: Start to Peak: Unknown
Number of Freq. Modulations: Unknown

Example Calls

This is a fairly good diurnal example.

Other calls:

OldBird: http://oldbird.org/pubs/fcmb/species/warblers/oven/oven.htm
eBird Search: https://ebird.org/media/catalog?taxonCode=ovenbi1&mediaType=a&sort=rating_rank_desc&q=Ovenbird%20-%20Seiurus%20aurocapilla
Sample Daytime calls: 1 2

Salient Points

This section may not be helpful. The idea is to make it easier to rule out other species more easily without going through the whole list, which may not be possible.

Tadpole shape.
Duration is generally shorter than 50mS, which is distinctive.
Bandedness single. Rules out several species.

Similar species

The following species were noted as being similar by the cited experts. Any notes underneath the species can be used to rule out the other species for particular calls.

When describing this call in comments on an NFC checklist, try and add as many salient notes as possible and refer to this page for justification. If there are any species which seem similar, please get in touch so we can add them here. The intent here is to have a full list of differences for each possible similar call.

All notes for species are coming from Evans and O'Brien (2002), unless where noted.

Evans and O'Brien (2002)

Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers are less piercing and often buzzier. Yellow-rumped Warbler is typically lower. Vesper and White-crowned Sparrows are typically longer. See Prothonotary and Swainson's Warblers and short rising seeps.

Pieplow (2017) notes that these birds give Sreet calls: Tennessee Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Golden-cheeked Warbler, Clay-colored Sparrow, Brewer's Sparrow. Slightly longer are the Prothonotary Warbler, Swainson's Warbler, Vesper Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow. "Sometimes slightly buzzy" is where he puts the Ovenbird, along with the Blue- and Golden-winged Warbler, although he notes that it is like the Dzit, where he gives 20 birds, which calque onto what Evans and O'Brien (2002) calls the "tseet" complex. Mourning Warbler ("sometimes slightly less buzzy"), and Yellow-rumped Warblers and noted as being slightly lower.

It seems pertinent to review at least the union of these two sets of comparisons, then.

Blue-winged Warbler

Duration: Distinctly longer, at a lower bound of 53mS.
Frequency: Below 6kHz could be a BWWA but not an Ovenbird, while an OVEN can be above 8.7kHz.
Bandedness: Either single or double-banded. OVEN is single.
Direction: "Rising, sometimes with lower-frequency "tails" at the beginning or end."
Modulation: Not useful for disambiguation.
Depth of modulation: Not useful for disambiguation.

Golden-winged Warbler

Duration: Longer, at a lower bound of 51mS and an average of 57mS. Under 50mS is almost certainly good for an Ovenbird.
Frequency: Doesn't rise above 8kHz, unlike an Ovenbird.
Direction: Rising
Bandedness: Single
Modulation: Inconsistent and not useful for disambiguation.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Duration: Can be above 51.8kHz, otherwise not useful as a distinguishing factor.
Frequency: Can be below 6.2 to 5.3kHz, but not above 8.9kHz, leaving a small window where it could be a YRWA but not an OVEN, and another window where it could be the opposite.
Bandedness: Sometimes shows a faint second band.
Modulation: Second half can be above 6.3mS to 7.5mS. Otherwise not useful.
Direction: Rises, then descends, unlike OVEN two-partedness.

Prothonotary Warbler

Duration: Longer, above 53mS.
Frequency: Can be higher, to above 10kHz. Otherwise not useful.
Bandedness: Can have faint second band.
Direction: Rising, upward-arched, and with a hook at the end at times.
Modulation: Irregular, but sometimes more than 6.3mS in length.
Range: Unlikely to be in Vermont.

Swainson's Warbler

The sample size for Swainson's is low, at 1. Range is a good tell: it is unlikely to be migrating through Vermont.

Duration: Longer.
Frequency: Not useful.
Direction: Rising and then downward.
Modulation: Throughout.

Vesper Sparrow

Duration: Can be longer. Duration under 46kHz unlikely.
Frequency: Can be higher.
Bandedness: Double banded.
Direction: Not useful on indistinct examples, as it has a two-parted nature with an upward bend at the beginning.
Modulation: Less than 4.5mS, which is shorter than the shortest OVEN. Depth not measured for OVEN.

White-crowned Sparrows

Duration: Much longer, over 100mS.
Frequency: Can be higher.
Bandedness: Can be double banded.
Direction: Upward arched, with high point at beginning.
Modulations: Prominent modulations, at 27mS wavelength.

Other birds

Black-throated Blue: Lacks modulation, and distinctly rises with a small squiggle in the middle.
Black-throated Green Warbler: Double banded, lacks modulation.
Brewer's Sparrow: Safely eliminated by range. Not listed by Evans and O'Brien (2002).
Clay-colored Sparrow: Lacks modulation, ascending portion steeper than Ovenbirds.
Golden-cheeked Warbler: Lightly double-banded, lacks modulation.
Mourning Warbler: Double-banded, slow modulations (5.6mS) with ...
Nashville: Double-banded, evenly rising, lacks, modulation bandwidth smaller.
Orange-crowned Warbler: Double-banded, lacks modulation.
Tennessee Warbler: Double-banded, lacks modulation.

References

Curson, J., Quinn, D., & Beadle, D. (1994). Warblers of the Americas: an identification guide. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Dunn, J. L., & Garrett, K. (1997). A field guide to warblers of North America (Vol. 49). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Dunne, P. (2006). Pete Dunne's essential field guide companion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Evans, W. R. and O’Brien, M. (2002) Flight Calls of Migratory Birds Eastern North American Landbirds. Old Bird Inc. [CD-ROM]. Online
Pieplow, N. (2017) Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Eastern North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: New York.
Porneluzi, P., M. A. Van Horn, and T. M. Donovan (2020). Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.ovenbi1.01
Sibley, D. (2016) Sibley Birds East. Knopf: New York.
Stephenson, T. and Whittle, S. (2013) The Warbler Guide. Princeton University Press.