By Sally Siko

When walking through the forests here in central North Carolina, you’ll often hear the familiar calls of a Yellow-throated Warbler echoing down from the tree tops.
If your lucky, you might get a chance to see one up close as sometimes these delightful little birds can be quite curious to our presence in the woods.

Yellow-throated Warblers are gorgeous creatures IMO! Breeding males are particularly striking with that bold black and white plumage set off against a bright yellow patch of feathers on their throats.
I spotted this one singing his heart out while leading a birding tour at Cape Fear Shiners Park in Lillington NC a couple weeks ago.
It was so cool to be able to share this bird with my guests and to see how happy everyone was with their own photos!

Known as “Southern” warbler, Yellow-throated’s breed in the eastern United States but only north to southern New York and (in smaller numbers) west into Iowa yet they are much more commonly found in the Deep South rather than in the mountain regions.
Here in North Carolina you can find the nesting in our coastal and Piedmont counties throughout the summer.

The best places to find these beauties is from mid March – mid October in moist woods and edges, whether in swamps, bottomlands, forests along a lakeshore, streamside groves, or in pinelands; forests with scattered tall pines containing Spanish moss.
Though they are a rare sight in the winter months, Yellow-throated Warblers may also be found mainly in North Carolina’s coastal counties in maritime forests, or in mature pine-hardwood stands, especially where the hardwoods are broadleaf evergreens once the weather turns cold.
Aren’t they lovely?

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my beloved full frame 50MP beast, the mighty @canonusa #5Ds