Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Ovenbird (Seiuris aurocapillus)

Ovenbird [ventral view of adult]. Photograph Credit: Stephen J. Stedman; Lilly Bluff Overlook, Obed Wild and Scenic River, Morgan County, Tennessee; 29 September 2006.

Abundance: Fairly Common to Common, reflecting the former abundance classification at lower elevations, such as on the Highland Rim, and the latter classification at higher elevations, such as on the Cumberland Plateau; recorded in all Regional counties (Map of UCR Distribution); data from Regional bird-monitoring efforts indicate the population breeding in the Region is probably stable (see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan).

Status: Summer Resident; Visitor during winter (1 record); specimen (6 June 1938; Coopersville, Wayne County, Kentucky; W. M. Perrygo; Wetmore 1940); photograph (see above).

Regional High Count and SBC/SBB High Count: 197 (2 May 2009; Cumberland County, Tennessee [SBC]; m. ob.); FBC/FBB High Count: 11 (29 September 2007; White County, Tennessee [FBC]; m. ob.).

Out-of-Season (Late Fall or Winter) Record:

20 December 2003 (1) near Southern Hills Golf Course, Putnam County, Tennessee (Daniel L. Combs, Kris Bolin), a CBC record.

14 November 2009 (1 slightly injured) Brookhaven Dr., Crossville, Cumberland County, Tennessee (DJ Stanley).

Regional Extreme Dates:

    Early Spring: x (

    Late Fall: x (

    Note: Spring arrival usually widespread by 20 April; fall departure largely complete by 15 October.  Regional dates of earliest reported spring arrival and latest reported fall departure for the years 2002–2011 follow:

* But see also Out-of-Season Record.

Breeding: Confirmed (Recent). Confirmation of breeding was obtained during the 1986–1991 atlas project in 14 of 16 counties in the Tennessee portion of the Region (Nicholson 1997); confirmation was also obtained during the 1985–1991 atlas project in 2 of 10 counties in the Kentucky portion of the Region (Palmer-Ball 1996); confirmation was additionally obtained during the 2010 UCR Foray in Cumberland County, Tennessee, and during the 2011 UCR Foray in McCreary County, Kentucky.

Habitat: Mature woodlands with an open to fairly open understory and a carpet of fairly thick leaf litter.

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: Registered on 7 (of 125 possible) monthly check-lists during 2003 and on 17 (of 206 possible) check-lists during 2004, leading to YardWatch frequency classifications of Very Uncommon and Uncommon, respectively; the Ovenbird is a skulker and is apparently less frequently encountered in yards and neighborhoods, where it may not sing much, than in the Region as a whole.

Foray Results: A summary of data from UCR Forays follows (to view a map displaying foray data for a county or a sub-Region for this species, click on the name of an underlined county or state below):

* Because some foray blocks fall into two or three counties, the total of blocks in the Kentucky or Tennessee portions of the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the counties of each portion of the Region; similarly, because some blocks fall into both states, the total of blocks for the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the two states.

Remarks: The Ovenbird became the subject of a poem by Robert Frost in a book (The Runaway and Other Animals) published in the early decades of the Twentieth Century.  In "The Oven Bird" Frost describes this warbler and its explosive song as "a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,/ Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again."  The poem ends with a commentary not only deeply relevant to human life but also prophetically relevant to the decreasing populations of many of North America's warblers: "The question that he frames in all but words/ Is what to make of a diminished thing."

Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.

Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.

Literature Cited