Warblers

On a short walk through Central Park yesterday afternoon, I saw two of my favorite warblers, ovenbird and worm eating warbler. Although superficially similar, the two birds have quite different habits, The worm eating warbler is a gleaner, typically seen moving about in low shrubs or, as I saw it yesterday, just above eye level moving from shrubs to trees. As its name implies it usually feeds on caterpillars. We appear to be near the northern edge of its breeding range.

The ovenbird, by contrast, is almost always found on or near the ground. It takes insects off the forest floor. This bird breeds as far south as Georgia and as far north as the Yukon and Newfoundland. It is named for its nest, which resembles a Dutch oven. Audubon did not classify the ovenbird among the warblers but referred to it as the Golden-Crowned Wagtail.

Here's a bit of what he said about the ovenbird:

Perched erect on a low horizontal branch, or sometimes on a fallen tree, it emits, at intervals of ten or fifteen minutes, a short succession of simple notes, beginning with emphasis and gradually falling. This suffices to inform the female that her lover is at hand, as watchful as he is affectionate. The
quieter the place of his abode, the more the little minstrel exerts his powers; and in calm evenings, its music immediately following the song of the Tawny Thrush, appears to form a pleasant unison. The nest is so like an oven, that the
children in many places call this species the "Oven Bird." I have found it always on the ground, sometimes among the roots of a tall tree, sometimes by the side of a fallen trunk, and again at the foot of some slender sapling. It is sunk in the ground among dry leaves or decayed moss, and is neatly formed of
grasses, both inside and out, arched over with a thick mass of the same material, covered by leaves, twigs, and such grasses as are found in the neighbourhood. A small aperture is left on one side, just sufficient to admit the owner. In this snug tenement the female deposits from four to six eggs, which are white, irregularly spotted with reddish-brown near the larger end.