One of the most visually striking birds found in the mountains of western N.C. in the summertime is the Canada Warbler.
I spotted this one along the Blue Ridge Parkway while on a birding trip in the Craggy Pinnacle area a few weeks ago.

He was relatively easy to find along the trail by listening for his song, a “chip” followed by a distinctive pause, and then a series of short, sputtery notes: “chip chupety swee- ditchety”.
Once I narrowed the area where the calls were coming from, all I had to do is look for the movement of yellow feathers in the brush.

Males are more brightly colored than females, with bluish-grey upper-parts and tail and bright yellow underparts. Their crown plumage is adorned with delicate black and bluish points, a black forehead and “sideburns,” which join to form a distinctive necklace of black blotchy stripes across its intensely yellow chest.

The female Canada Warblers are beautiful too! Though they lack the black face and necklace feathers of the male, their subdued olive and yellow tones are quite lovely.
I wanted to see and photograph a female but unfortunately I couldn’t locate one on this day.
No worries though, this just means I’ve got a good reason to return to the Blue Ridge Parkway again 😉

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc
on the magnificent full frame DSLR beast, the @canon #5Ds