Ovenbirds: Furnariidae

Ovenbirds are found from central Mexico to Patagonia in southern South America.

Ovenbirds inhabit forests of various types, brushlands, pampas (grasslands), alpine areas (high mountain regions), and semi-deserts.

Their diet consists of mostly insects, spiders, other invertebrates, animals without backbones, and sometimes small seeds. They forage, search for food, among litter on the ground, in foliage, leaves, and on bark and epiphytes (EPP-uh-fytes), plants such as mosses that grow on another plant but do not depend on that host plant for nutrition, of shrubs and trees.

The ovenbird species called the rufous hornero is the national bird of Argentina. Birdwatchers like to view these birds. There is little other significance between ovenbirds and people.

Three species of ovenbirds are listed as Critically Endangered, facing an extremely high risk of extinction, no longer existing, in the wild. Nine species are listed as Endangered, facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future, and fifteen species are Vulnerable, facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. There are eighteen species considered Near Threatened, in danger of becoming threatened with extinction.