black throated blue warbler | Best Life Birding- Birdwatching Tours

By Sally Siko

I’ve been trying to get a decent photo of a Black-throated Blue Warbler for years.
It seems like every time I find one perched in a tree, the bird is always partially hidden by leaves.
While birding in Western North Carolina in June, I had several opportunities to photograph the species.
As usual, the birds proved difficult to capture.

I spent nearly 2 hours trying to get a single good shot but these guys just weren’t cooperating.
Always in bad light, turned around or (mostly) just too far away.
Honestly, it was frustrating but then I remembered that some birds can be friendlier than others.
Perhaps I just needed a more amicable subject?
So I decided to abandon that spot and head down the mountain to find another (and hopefully more cooperative) Black-throated blue Warbler to photograph.
As luck would have it, I ended up spotting a male feeding its youngster (at least I think it was his, there was a Canada Warbler nearby too!) under just a mile away.

He wasn’t bothered by my presence one bit! He’d fly down from the trees (often landing very close by) in order to grab an insect to feed to the little one waiting patiently below.
So cool!

Black-throated Blue Warblers are stunning.
The males are dressed in black, blue and white plumage while the females are a lovely shade of sage green, bluish grey and tan.Weighing in at .37 ounces and measuring just 5.7 inches in length these guys are tough to photograph as they move quickly in the trees picking at the the underside of leaves in search of a meal.
During the breeding season, look for these gorgeous birds in spruce-fir,hardwood, hemlock, or White Pine forests containing evergreen rhododendrons and Mountain Laurel mainly above 3,000 feet.
When autumn arrives migrants are typically found in the understory or shrub layers, usually hardwoods, within various forest types.
They’ll stick around NC through mid October days before heading south for the winter.
This means you’ve still got plenty of time to find one this year!

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding both captured on my mighty mirrorless monster, the @canonusa #R5

There are certain birds out there that I’ve seen several times over the years but haven’t got a proper good look at.
Sure, this is fine for my life list but as a photographer, it’s unsatisfying.
Case in point, this Black-throated Blue Warbler.

Though I was grateful to spot a lovely pair at Ebenezer Point at the Jordan Lake SRA this past weekend, unfortunately I was thwarted again of a great shot by these little beauties proclivity for ducking behind the leaves. Thank goodness for @canonusa R5 Animal Eye Focus so that I could at least catch a few useable photos lol!
Though I spent almost an hour trying to capture an unobscured portrait of one, it was not to be.
Not that this is a problem though.
Now I’ve got a great reason to get back out there to find them again to try for that “perfect” frame filling shot.
Which is of course, fine by me 😉

Black-throated Blue Warblers are absolutely stunning little birds. The males are dressed in black, blue and white plumage while the females are a lovely shade of sage green, bluish grey and tan.
Weighing in at .37 ounces and measuring just 5.7 inches in length these guys are tough to photograph as they move quickly in the trees picking at the the underside of leaves in search of a meal.
That being said, unlike many other species of wood warblers, Black-throated Blue’s tend to hunt in the mid to lower canopy of trees which is a nice way to avoid “warbler neck” during autumn migration 😉

They’ll only stick around NC for a few more days before heading south for the winter but the Black-throated Blues will return in late April so if you’ve missed a look (or photo lol!) of them this year, no worries!
There is always next spring to continue the chase…

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on my mirrorless megapixel monster, the mighty @canonusa #R5