Another great summertime bird to find off of the Blue Ridge Parkway is the Chestnut- sided Warbler. These friendly, brightly colored birds live in dense habitats including old fields, shrubby areas, cut over woodlands, and stream-side thickets. Here in western N.C., they are found at the higher elevations of the Blue Ridge Mountains foraging for insects in the rhododendron patches.
Like the Canada Warbler, they’re quite curious about people and will fly in quite close to see what we are doing. I had no trouble at all trying to get a good look at this one as he foraged in the brush after tiny insects.
Chestnut-sided Warblers hunt for food by flitting between branches of shrubs and small trees, finding their six legged prey among leaves and twigs. Every now and again they’ll dart out of the brush to catch flying insects in midair.
Primarily they tend to nest to the north in New England however their breeding range does extend south down the spine of the Appalachian mountains. They hide their nests low in dense shrubs, blackberry tangles, rhododendron stands, or even in young saplings of alder, maple, and other hardwood shrubs and trees.
They are commonly found between 3500-5000 feet along the Blue Ridge Parkway throughout May and June and will stick around until the first week of October before migrating south to Central America to spend the winter.
You’ve still got plenty time to go see them this year so get out there if you can 🙂 Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the full frame beast @canonusa#5ds