the ovenbird
and some white oak thoughts
[I don’t take vacations from my work, for many reasons. But in May - I make sure to keep as many mornings free as I can so I can go out into the woods in a local state park & crane my neck looking into the treetops for spring migration. That’s just what I’ve been doing for the past 2 weeks - I think I’m done, but wouldn’t be surprised if I skipped out one more time later this week. But I have been in the shop too, working up some of that white oak I got recently. Here’s my report on both those endeavors.]
Who taught the ovenbird to conceal her nest? It is on the ground yet out of sight. What cunning there is in nature! No man could have arranged it more artfully for the purposes of concealment - Only the escape of the bird betrays it.
[Henry David Thoreau, The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, Journal, volume 3: 1848-1851, entry for June 9, 1850, p. 86]
The oven bird runs from her covered nest, so close to the ground under the lowest twigs & leaves - even the loose leaves on the ground like a mouse that I cannot get a fair view of her - she does not fly at all. Is it to attract me, or partly to protect herself? [ditto, v. 6: 1853, entry for June7, p. 184]
“Only the escape of the bird betrays it” - or the entering of the bird, Henry. Today - for the first time in maybe 28 years of trying, I got to see it. Just the other day I was saying to some birders I see in the woods, there doesn’t seem to be as many ovenbirds this year as usual. And then the first bird I saw at 6am Saturday morning was an ovenbird, with leaves, grass, etc in its bill - so I watched it and sure enough, she was building her dome-like nest in a pile of oak leaves, just a few feet from a well-trod path.
Almost 30 years ago my friend Marie Pelletier walked from her office in the museum over to my shop and handed me a note that was a list of all the spring migrants, mostly warblers, that she heard in a few-minutes’ walk. And that was my introduction to warblers - the birding fanatics’ spring obsession. And every spring since then I’ve tried to get out as often as I can - usually with Marie - to scour the treetops for these tiny little, fast-moving birds. Not all of them are at the treetops - the ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla) is often very low, either on the ground or just above it. So-named because its nest is a dome-shaped affair on the ground. It’s a funny bird, can be LOUD. And you can be standing within a couple of feet of it and have a hell of a time seeing it.
Marie & I spent many spring mornings watching ovenbirds skulk around, hoping to follow one to its nest. We came close in 2021 - but couldn’t find the nest & lost the bird.
It all comes down to “right place, right time.” Just sheer luck & being quick with the binocs.
In another week you’ll be hard pressed to find that nest at all - once all those plants are fully leafed-out it will be completely hidden. For an idea of the scale there, those are mostly oak leaves on the ground.
Less than 20 feet away was a wood thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) on its nest - about 12’ high, arched right over the path. I only know it is a wood thrush because I followed its wonderful song last week to near this spot, then saw a bird hop out of that nest. Went back a few times and then on Saturday found the bird in the nest. If you’ve never heard the wood thrush song in the woods, you’re missing out on a real wonder - here’s some samples https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Thrush/sounds
and here’s some of the dope about ovenbirds https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ovenbird/overview
Now - about that white oak. The bolts in the car below are mostly two-and-three foot sections. Maybe a couple of shorter pieces.
In my experience, it checks (splits on its ends) easier & faster than red oak. I have theories about why, but they’re just theories. As soon as I got this log, the weather turned warm, then all the way to hot (for here at least, I realize these things are relative). That means the bolts of oak will check on their ends - so I have started in on making them into parts as fast as I can. There’s lots of different approaches to working up fresh green wood - I’ll talk about the way I go about it. I pull out a bolt and split it up into whatever is best taken from that particular section. Shortest bolts first - there’s less leeway in shorter stuff.
