Posted to OBOL this afternoon:
Subject: Ovenbird in Vancouver, WA
From: Jim Johnson <jimjohn at teleport.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 15:01:11 -0700
I would appreciate it if someone would cross post this to Tweeters...

This morning (15 June 2001) I found a singing OVENBIRD in Orchards Park,
Vancouver, WA. This park is located at Fourth Plain Blvd and 102nd Ave, on
the east side of I-205 and not far north of SR-500. I first heard it at
around 9:30 in the woods along the north side of the big open lawn area in
the southeastern quadrant of the park (near the rose garden and the large
picnic shelter). I was without bins, but I was able to track it down and
get some very limited views of the bird. It mostly stayed in the brushy
understory of the mature Doug-fir forest which was dominated by hazelnut,
oceanspray, vine maple, and ninebark. At one point I saw it while it was on
the ground, but I was not able to see it strolling in typical Ovenbird
fashion.

The views were very limited. I was able to see its silhouette (large,
pot-bellied warbler shape, about the size of a Song Sparrow) as it perched
low in the shrubbery, and once it flew out in the open in front of me when
it was chased by a pair of annoyed Spotted Towhees. When it flew out I saw
the uniform pale olive-green upperparts. The song was given regularly, but
not especially frequently. I can only describe it with the typical field
guide mnemonic: "teacher, teacher, teacher". It was loud and increased in
volume as it progressed.

I continued to hear it sing over the next half hour or so, which allowed me
to determine that it was moving through the woods toward the east and north.

Jim Johnson

Portland, Oregon
N45^28'52" W122^35'53"
jimjohn at teleport.com


Ray Korpi, PhD "In March, with the cliff swallows
in Mexico
Clark College headed north, the committee
meetings
Vancouver, WA will not even be put on the
calendar."
--John Janovy, Jr., Keith
County Journal