Species: Seiurus aurocapilla

Ovenbird

Species

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

A plump-looking, 15-cm-long bird with a thin pointed bill, pinkish legs, russet crowned bordered by darks stripes, bold white eye ring, olive dorsum, and white venter with bold dark streaks of spots (NGS 1983).

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Parulidae

Genus

Seiurus

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103515

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Chipe Suelero - paruline couronnée

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Parulidae - Seiurus - Formerly known as Seiurus aurocapillus, but changed for grammatical reasons (AOU 2003).

Ecology and Life History

Short General Description

A small bird (wood warbler).

Migration

false - false - true - Principally follows the Atlantic and Mississippi flyways during migration, although some individuals use the Pacific flyway. Migration is apparently nocturnal (Van Horn and Donovan 1994). Spring migrants leave Costa Rica beginning in March and Puerto Rico in April (Raffaele 1989, Stiles and Skutch 1989), and arrive in Florida from late March through mid-May, with a peak in mid-April (Bent 1953, Taylor and Kershner 1986). In Kentucky, males typically return during the third week of April (Palmer-Ball 1996). Arrives in Michigan from late April through mid-May (Hahn 1937) and in Canada in late May and early June (Bent 1953). Based on kills at towers, fall migration peaks during the latter half of September in Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa, mid-September in New Jersey and late September through early October in Florida (Van Horn and Donovan 1994). Fall migrants arrive in the Neotropics from early September through late October (Raffaele 1989, Stiles and Skutch 1989). Sexes may migrate separately; males in Michigan arrive 9-14 days ahead of females (Hahn 1937).

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

false

Food Comments

BREEDING: Forages for invertebrate prey, principally that inhabiting the leaf litter, while walking or hopping along the ground. Prey is picked from leaf litter, off low vegetation, and the sides of logs (Stenger 1958). Foraging is concentrated in areas of greatest food abundance (Zach and Falls 1979). May forage in trees during outbreaks of larval insects such as the spruce budworm (CHORISTONEURA FUMIFERANA) and striped maple worm (Stenger 1958, Zach and Falls 1975). In New Hampshire, >50% of foraging attacks were directed towards prey in or on the leaf litter (Holmes and Robinson 1988). The stomach contents of 30 adults, obtained using an emetic, was dominated by Coleopterans, Dipterans, Hymenopterans, and Lepidopteran larvae (Holmes and Robinson 1988). In Ontario, the stomach contents of 98 dissected adults contained mostly leaf-litter-inhabiting insects, principally Coleopterans, Hymenopterans, Lepidopteran larvae, and unidentified insect larvae. Invertebrate prey are generally consumed in proportion to their availability (Stenger 1958). NON-BREEDING: The winter diet includes plant as well as animal material. In Florida, Ovenbirds have been observed feeding on red mulberries (MORUS RUBRA). In Puerto Rico, the stomachs of 13 dissected individuals contained 62.5% animal and 37.5% plant material (Bent 1953).

Reproduction Comments

PHENOLOGY: Nests from May-July (Terres 1991). First breeds in the spring after hatching (Van Horn and Donovan 1994). OVIPOSITION/INCUBATION: Typically produces one clutch per year, although sometimes two or three (Hahn, 1937, Zach and Falls 1975). Average clutch size for 27 nests in Michigan was 4.7 eggs (range = 3-6). First clutches typically had five eggs, subsequent clutches 3-5 (Hahn 1937; statistically significant difference between first and later clutches; Zach and Falls 1975). Mean clutch size of 78 clutches was 4.4 eggs (Van Horn and Donovan 1994). A female that nested three times in one season in Michigan laid a total of 10 eggs (Hahn 1937), another in Ontario laid 13 eggs (Zach and Falls 1975). Eggs are laid every other day and incubation begins after the penultimate egg is laid (Hahn 1937). Females alone incubate the eggs and brood the young. Incubation period ranges from 11.5-14 days (mean = 12.25). FLEDGING: Young leave the nest when 6.5-8.5 days old (mean = 8), and are capable of flight at 11 days old (Hahn 1937). Both parents feed the young. The brood is typically divided between the parents after the young leave the nest. NEST SUCCESS: In Michigan, 63.4% of eggs hatched and 43.5% of young fledged (Hahn 1937); in Minnesota, nest success (fledged at least one young) ranged from 75-100% (Hanski, et al. 1996) and in Arkansas, it was 71.4% (Martin 1993).

Ecology Comments

TERRITORY SIZE/DENSITY: Territory size and male density varies with prey abundance and size of inhabited forest. Territory size of 13 males studied in Ontario ranged from 0.6-1.6 hectares (mean = 0.8) and inversely correlated with the biomass of invertebrate prey, with territory size decreasing as prey biomass increased (Stenger 1958). A negative correlation between territory size and prey abundance was also observed in Tennessee (Smith and Shugart 1987). In Ontario, territory size was significantly smaller during a spruce budworm (CHORISTONEURA FUMIFERANA) outbreak than during non-budworm years (Zach and Falls 1975). Also territorial on the wintering grounds (Rappole and Warner 1980). In Ontario, densities of males ranged from 0.33-8.3/10 hectares, and increased significantly with increasing woodlot core area (core area is forest 3100 meters from the forest edge; Burke and Nol 1998). In central Missouri, male population density ranged from 0.66-1.73/10 hectares, and increased with increasing forest size (Wenny et al. 1993). Density of males was positively related to size of forest tract and core area in eastern Pennsylvania, ranging from 1.3-7.2 males/10 hectares (Porneluzi et al. 1993). In a managed-forest landscape in New Brunswick, density of males in forest fragments (1.1/10 ha) did not differ statistically from a large contiguous forested tract (1.9/10 ha; Sabine et al. 1996). In northern hardwood forest in New Hampshire, average population density was 13.5 birds/10 hectares (Sabo and Holmes 1983). SITE FIDELITY: Exhibits breeding site fidelity. In Illinois, 3 of 8 (37.5%) of those banded one year were recaptured the subsequent year (Robinson 1992). Of 22 adults and 40 young banded one year in Michigan, 10 adults (45%) and one yearling (2.5%) returned to the study area the following year. The three returning males occupied their former territory, whereas females either returned to their former territory or occupied an adjacent territory. The following year, the three males again returned and occupied their former territories (Hahn (1937). In New Jersey, 36% of adults and 10% of young banded in one year returned the following year (Leck et al. 1988). In Missouri, an average of 41% of males banded one year returned the next; 64% had second-year territories with >50% overlap with first-year territories, and 26% were adjacent to or overlapped <50% with the territory of the previous year (Porneluzi and Faaborg 1999). Also exhibits site fidelity to wintering grounds (Faaborg and Arendt 1984, Kricher and Davis 1986, Martin and Carr 1986). POPULATION PARAMETERS: Annual survivorship of birds in Pennsylvania and Michigan was estimated to be 54% (Hahn 1937, Savidge and Davis 1974 cited in Van Horn and Donovan 1994). Overwinter survival rates did not differ between mature and early-successional forests in Belize (Conway et al. 1995). Oldest known individual was 9 years old (Dowell and Robbins 1998). PARASITES: Adults are host to six species of external parasites, including two lice (MENACANTHUS CHRYSOPHAEUM, MYRSIDEA INCERTA), three ticks (HAEMAPHYSALIS LEPORISPALUSTRIS, IXODES BRUNNEUS, IXODES DAMMINI), and one mite (LIPONYSSUS SYLVIARIUM; Peters 1936 cited in Van Horn and Donovan 1994). Mites have also been found on nestlings (Hahn 1937).

Length

Weight

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

2002-12-20

Global Status Last Changed

1996-12-03

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDING: northeastern British Columbia and southern Mackenzie to central Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, south to southern Alberta, western Montana, northern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, northern Alabama, and Carolinas; disjunct population in central Colorado (Van Horn and Donovan 1994, AOU 1998). NON-BREEDING: occasionally in U.S. in southern Texas, Gulf Coast, and North Carolina; most commonly in Mexico, along Pacific coast from Sinaloa south and along Atlantic coast from southern Tamaulipas south; also on Yucatan peninsula; less common throughout Central America, rarely to Colombia and Venezuela; also common in West Indies from central Bahamas to northern Lesser Antilles (fairly common in Puerto Rico and St. John); perhaps annual in Netherlands Antilles (Ridgely and Tudor 1989, Van Horn and Donovan 1994, AOU 1998).

Global Range Code

Global Range Description

>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103515