A couple of days ago, I headed out on a birding trip to Bass Lake Park in Holly Springs NC.
It was a beautiful morning with lots of birds to be found including this gorgeous Northern Parula.
These little guys are among my favorites because they are friendly, inquisitive birds who will often fly in close to say hello to ya if you pish at them.

The Northern Parula breeds in the eastern United States from Florida up to Maine and all the way up into Canada.
Though they build their nests at varying heights in the trees, they are specific about what kinds materials they use to construct them.
Here in North Carolina (and other places in the southeastern states), they generally build their nests in hanging bunches of Spanish moss.
In their northern ranges, they usually build their nests in bunches of Usnea lichen (Old Man’s Beard) by hollowing out a cup near the bottom of the mass with an entrance hole in the side.

The best way to find them during the spring and summer is to listen for their call, which kinda sounds like a zipper being pulled, “zzzeeeeeup”.
They’re best found in foraging in the mid to upper canopies of trees in mature forests along streams, ponds and wetlands.
They’ll spend the summer here in the Tarheel state and will stick around until mid October so their is plenty of time for you to get out there and enjoy them too!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the full frame beast of an SLR, the mighty @canonusa #5ds