Fournier

Identification

Ovenbirds are large wood warblers and may sometimes be confused by the untrained for a thrush. Adults measure 11–16 cm (4.3–6.3 in) long and span 19–26 cm (7.5–10.2 in) across the wings. They weigh 19 g (0.67 oz) on average, with a range of 14–28.8 g (0.49–1.02 oz). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 6.8 to 8.3 cm (2.7 to 3.3 in), the tail is 5 to 5.8 cm (2.0 to 2.3 in), the bill is 1.1 to 1.3 cm (0.43 to 0.51 in) and the tarsus is 2 to 2.3 cm (0.79 to 0.91 in). They tend to be heavier in winter and particularly at the start of their migration. They have olive-brown upperparts and white underparts heavily streaked with black; the flanks have an olive hue. A white ring surrounds the eyes, and a black stripe runs below the cheek. They have a line of orange feathers with olive-green tips running along the top of their head, bordered on each side with blackish-brown. The orange feathers can be erected to form a small crest. The eyes and the upper part of the thin pointed beak are dark, while the lower beak is horn-colored and the legs and feet are pinkish.<p>Males and females look alike. Immature birds have tawny fringes to the tertiary remiges and sometimes buff-tipped outer primary wing coverts. Most conspicuously, the olive-green tips of the crown feathers, which are hardly visible in adult birds, are far larger in extent in immatures and cover the orange crown-stripe almost or completely.<p>The main song of the ovenbird is a series of strident, relatively low-pitched, bisyallabic motives repeated without pause about eight times and increasing in volume. Usually, the second syllable in each motive is sharply accented: "chur-tee’ chur-tee’ chur-tee’ chur-tee’ chur-TEE chur-TEE chur-TEE!" Male ovenbirds utter a sweet chattering song in the air at twilight, after the manner of the skylark, incorporating portions of the main song into a jumble of sputtering notes and mimicry as they dive back to earth. The call is a variably pitched, sharp "chik!" Some variations recall the common call note of a downy woodpecker. If the bird is excited, it may repeat this call several times. The fight call is a high, rising siiii.

Taxonomie

The genus Seiurus is currently treated as monotypic, containing only the ovenbird; it is genetically distinct from all other species in the family Parulidae, probably the first genus to evolve separately from the rest of the family.<p>Before the recent genetic studies were carried out, the waterthrushes were also included in Seiurus; these are now treated separately in the genus Parkesia as they are not very closely related to the ovenbird.<p>The species name aurocapilla is a noun phrase, so the original spelling is retained, not changed according to the gender of the genus name; Linnaeus originally named it Motacilla aurocapilla, and the ending is not changed to -us as commonly cited in the past. Etymologically aurocapilla comes from Latin and means "golden haired" and Seiurus is from Ancient Greek seiō, "to shake", and oura, "tail".

Nom scientifique

Seiurus aurocapilla

Autorité

(Linnaeus, 1766)

Ordre

Passériformes

Famille

Parulidés

Genre

Seiurus

Répartition et habitat

Aire de reproduction

NA : n, c, e

Aire hors reproduction

MA, West Indies and n SA

Migration

Complete migrants

Conservation

Tendance de la population

stable