By Sally Siko

Here’s a bird I was pleased to find while birding at Lake Lynn in Raleigh, North Carolina earlier this month, the Magnolia Warbler.
It took some patience to photograph this bird as it hunted for a meal in the dark canopy of the forest. I was thrilled when the bird spied a green caterpillar and plucked it off of the leaf in reasonably good light.
I’ve been trying to get a proper photograph of the species for years with no success, and although these photos are heavily cropped, I’ll take this as a win today lol!

The breeding range of the Magnolia Warbler extends across the southern half of Canada and into the northern half of the United States east of the Mississippi. They are also known to nest in small numbers in the Appalachian mountains of Western, North Carolina, and Virginia.
That being said, typically they’re most commonly found in NC during migrational periods in the central and western regions of the state.

With autumn migration in full swing, now is the perfect time to get out there and find these birds.
These guys are truly stunning birds and easier to ID than most other warblers flying around this time of year.
Look for that bright yellow belly streaked with black lines, two white wing bars and that white eye ring.
Although they nest in stands of conifers, during the autumn, they are best found in the canopy or mid-story of hardwood forests and edges.
The Magnolia Warbler will be here through early October before departing for destinations in Mexico, central America, and the West Indies to spend the winter.

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