Sighting Record for Utah

Common name:	Ovenbird
Scientific name:	Seiurus aurocapilla
Date:	May 23, 2023
Time:	10 a.m.
Length of time observed:	20 min total; two audiences
Number:	1
Age:	Presumed adult
Sex:	Male
Location:	Bonneville Shoreline Trail, North Ogden
County:	Weber
Latilong:	41.29126 111.93829
Elevation:	4968
Distance to bird:	10-20 yards?
Optical equipment:	N/A
Weather:	Clear, Temps in the 70's
Light Conditions:	Bright
Description: Size of bird:
(Description:) Basic Shape:
(Description:) Overall Pattern:
(Description:) Bill Type:
(Description:) Field Marks and Identifying Characteristics:	Audible only. That the bird remained hidden despite multiple attempts to see it is typical of the species.
Song or call & method of delivery:	The song was a two-note repetition that began softly and was significantly louder within 3-4 repetitions. The bird repeated the two notes 10-11 times in a song series. Phonetically, it sounded like "eacha-eacha-eaCHA-EACHA-EACHA..." with the emphasis on the second note and a pumping quality to the series. Each song series lasted 4-ish seconds. The bird didn't seem to move around in the canopy very much and didn't seem to respond to a playback, although twice it seemed to be closer and louder. One of those times it may have landed in a thick clump of scrub-oak above my position on the trail. Instead of hearing the repetitious song, I heard a loud, sharp chip note unlike anything I'm familiar with in that habitat at this time of year. Only in retrospect and with playing the call note for my own knowledge did I think that might have been the Ovenbird responding and coming closer. (Audio1, Audio2)
Behavior:	Singing from within the scrub-oak canopy along a creek in foothill habitat and rather deftly remaining out of sight during two audiences.
Habitat:	A riparian corridor in the foothills cutting through a mixture of scrub-oak and shrub-steppe
Similar species and how were they eliminated:	It's embarrassing, I know, but I didn't consider anything else. When I heard the bird, I thought it was an Ovenbird and after listening for awhile and telling my hiking companion that's what it was, I called up the song recording on Merlin and attempted to get the bird to respond to a playback. I chose the first recording at the top of the list rather than the second (which is not as close a rendition as the bird that was singing). My friend, who is not a birder but is a musician, thought the match was exact.
Previous experience with this & similar species:	Many from my youth in New England; one in Utah documented in UBRC record 2005-20
References consulted:	Merlin for a playback at the site; later, Macaulay Library; UBRC record 2005-20, Birds of the World species account and my 1966 Golden Guide, which is the only field guide I still own that shows the sonograms. That guide is charming, but the particular sonogram is of low-quality.
Description from:	From memory
Observer:	Kristin Purdy
Observer's address:	Ogden
Observer's e-mail address:	**
Other observers who independently identified this bird:	None
Date prepared:	June 18, 2023
Additional material:	Audio1, Audio2
Additional comments:	This is the e-bird checklist I filed on that day, which is useful because of the sonograms in the audio files: https://ebird.org/checklist/S139025517. I made the lower-quality recording on the first visit when the bird was farther away and across a creek from my position. The higher-quality recording is from my second visit an hour or two later after I dumped my non-birding friend and returned to the site alone. Both the bird and I were on the same side of the creek and farther away from the rushing noise, and the bird was also closer to my position.