A common warbler of the forest understory, the ground-nesting Ovenbird was named because its nest bears some resemblance in shape to a Dutch oven. Does it really? At left is a nest with 3 chicks piled in it, viewed from the opening in the side. You might have to use your imagination to find any resemblance to an oven.

Having trouble finding all 3 chicks in the photo? One is at left, facing left, one is in the middle, facing right (head not visible), and the head of the third chick is underneath the foot of the second!

Wake Co., NC 5/8/2011.

Same nest, zoomed out a bit to show just how difficult it is to spot the nest on the ground.

On the Jordan Lake spring bird count (with Carl Rothfels), we saw an Ovenbird carrying food, so decided to make like trees and stand still watching until the mama couldn't resist the urge to feed her chicks. After 15-20 minutes of standing still (feeding mosquitoes) and watching her hop all around the area (everywhere but near the nest), she finally worked up the courage to make a quick dash to the nest, dropping off the caterpillars (taking all of 2 seconds). She then flew up to a nearby branch and scolded us for a bit. We were only about 15 feet away from the nest, which was very well camouflaged on the ground. I took a couple of quick shots and then we left them in peace.

Wake Co., NC 5/8/2011.