Bob,
Your experience with the ovenbird was much like mine. Last Wednesday afternoon, 6/21, I went down to Packwood, arriving at the site shortly after 2:00 pm. I immediately heard black-throated gray warbler and pacific-slope flycatchers, but no sign of ovenbird until at 2:20 I heard one loud phrase from the west side of the road. Shortly afterward I saw the bird flit from the top of a fir to another fir 20 yards down the road, still on the west side. It vocalized again, one phrase only, at 2:35, then was silent until I left at 3:00. Not surprisingly, it seems the bird is much more vocal and active earlier in the day, but even in the mid-late afternoon he can be found.
Greg Toffic
Seattle

>>> "Robert Norton" <norton36 at olypen.com> 06/27 9:33 PM >>>
TWEETS,
I heard the OVENBIRD quite a few times today but was unable to see it.
I arrived at 1:37 PM and as I was getting out of the car it sang as did a
'wheezy' warbler. It was quite warm and I had expected to have to wait
until evening. After a long wait and much pishing, I tried the tape quietly
with a single song and got an immediate response. Both the original song
and this were west of the logging road. I was finally able to get it to the
east by taking the little trail to the east and trying the tape from there.
Both the OVENBIRD and 'wheezy' were now quite close. More pishing and
'wheezy' turned out to be the usual suspect, BLACK-THROATED GRAY -- how
many different songs they have! No more OVENBIRD song after 2:30 and I left
at 3:25.
Bob Norton
Joyce (near Port Angeles), WA
norton36 at olypen.com