Bird Series
In January 2011, I was invited to join a new team competing in the Carden Challenge where teams compete to identify the greatest number of bird species in a 24 hour period. My song ID skills at the time were not great so I spent the next three months studying and listening and practicing. At the time, I thought I was doing it just for the Challenge. Now I realize that those months spent learning have led to some pretty fantastic work opportunities.
I was interested in birds long before I had any clue that geocaching existed. So when it came time to place some caches, what better way to combine the two interests. How many of these birds can you identify?
Ovenbird
The ovenbird is a warbler that you are more likely to hear than to see. Its repetitive song, “teacher, teacher, teacher” is very loud for such a small bird. I heard a very early ovenbird one spring several years ago and reported it on e-bird. A while later, I received an e-mail from the reviewer saying that it was far too early to be an ovenbird and was more likely a cardinal. In all the years that I've lived here, only one cardinal has ever showed up while I hear ovenbirds every year. I agreed to make the change but now that I'm more experienced with bird sounds I find I'm not convinced that I didn't hear an ovenbird.
A resident of hardwood forests across the country, the ovenbird searches the leaf little for invertebrates to eat. In recent years, the lowly earthworm has been blamed in part for the decline of these birds – the worms facilitate the composting of the leaf litter, leaving less for hiding the food that the ovenbird eats.
This bird gets its name from its nest which resembles a Dutch oven. The female weaves the cup, the side entrance and the roof from the inside and then drops leaves and twigs on top of it to hide it.
There is poison ivy in the general area of the cache but, if you take the right route in, you will not encounter any. Be careful of the fence wire that lies on the ground in the area.
