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Ovenbirds or furnariids are a large family of small suboscine passerine birds found from Mexico and Central America to southern South America. They form the family Furnariidae. This is a large family containing around 321 species and 71 genera. The ovenbird ( Seiurus aurocapilla), which breeds in North America, is not a furnariid – rather it is a distantly related bird of the wood warbler family, Parulidae.
The ovenbirds are a diverse group of which get their name from the elaborate, vaguely "oven-like" clay nests built by the , although most other ovenbirds build stick nests or nest in tunnels or clefts in rock.Remsen, J. V., Jr. 2003. Family Furnariidae (ovenbirds). Pages 162–357 in J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott and D. A. Christie eds. Handbook of the birds of the world, Vol. 8, broadbills to tapaculos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. The Spanish language word for "oven" ( horno) gives the horneros their name. Furnariid nests are always constructed with a cover, and up to six pale blue, greenish or white Bird egg are laid. The eggs hatch after 15 to 22 days, and the young fledge after a further 13 to 20 days.
They are small to medium-sized birds, ranging from 9 to 35 cm in length. While individual species often are habitat specialists, species of this family can be found in virtually any Neotropical habitat, ranging from city parks inhabited by , to tropical Amazonian lowlands by many species of foliage-gleaners, to temperate barren Andean highlands inhabited by several species of Geositta. Two species, the seaside and the surf cinclodes, are associated with rocky coasts.
The cladogram below showing the subfamilies of the ovenbirds is based on a molecular genetic studies that revealed that Sclerurinae was the first group to diverge The species numbers are from the list maintained by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC).
The phylogeny of the Furnariidae is now well understood thanks to multiple analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Among other discoveries, the classification of several genera had to be revised. The taxonomic arrangement presented below is based on molecular genetic studies of ovenbird relationships. However, because ovenbirds and woodcreepers are treated here as a single family some were modified. For more detail see "List of ovenbird species".
Subfamily: Sclerurinae – miners and leaftossers
Subfamily: Furnariinae – Neotropical ovenbirds and allies
The phylogenetic tree shown below is based on a large-scale genetic 2020 study of the suboscines by Michael Harvey and collaborators. A high resolution version of the phylogenetic tree in Figure 1 is available from the first author's website here. The tawny tit-spinetail ( Leptasthenura yanacencis) has been moved to the genus Sylviorthorhynchus, the sulphur-bearded spinetail ( Cranioleuca sulphurifera) has been moved to the genus Limnoctites and its English name changed to the sulphur-bearded reedhaunter, and the white-bellied spinetail ( Synallaxis propinqua) has been placed in the monotypic genus Mazaria. These changes are included in the tree shown below. The remaining paraphyletic genera are flagged in the tree by an asterisk.
In 2009, the large ovenbird family was divided into tribes by Robert Moyle and collaborators. The tribes as defined in the 2009 article do not fit well with the revised taxonomy of Harvey and are not included here. For example, the tribe Furnariini as defined in the 2009 article is not monophyletic in the Harvey phylogeny. The species numbers in the cladogram are from the list maintained by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC).
Taxonomy and systematics
The (formerly Dendrocolaptidae) were merged into this family, following analysis of DNA sequence. While confirming the overall phylogenetic pattern, other scientists instead opted for maintaining the woodcreepers as a separate family, while splitting the ovenbirds (as traditionally defined) into two families, Furnariidae and Scleruridae.
Fossil record
Furnariids boast a notable fossil record for a passerine family. Numerous fossils comprising multiple skeletal elements, including cranial remains, have facilitated the identification and description of five distinct fossil species. Among these, two have been classified within the extant genera Cinclodes and Pseudoseisura, while the remaining three belong into the extinct genus Pseudoseisuropsis. All fossil are of Pleistocene age.
Further reading
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