Northern Parula

Can you see it? Warblers are very difficult to find once the leaves are fully out. The best time for capturing photos of them is just as the leaves are starting to open. I had heard this warbler each morning when I would go for my walk but I couldn't find it! Daily, for the past week I would stand in the meadow looking up into a tall, two storey sized tree at the edge of a huge stand of old Pines and scan the trees for a sight of it. Yesterday I determined to wait it out and finally when I detected movement among the leaves and blossoms I saw it! It was a Northern Parula! This beautiful little woods warbler was easy to identify once I could see it. Its white eye-arcs and the rufous breast band on the yellow throat easily sets it off from other warblers. This might be a male for the colour of the breast band suggests there may be black in it as well and this is a feature of the male of this species. Also characteristic of Northern Parulas is the yellow lower mandible or bottom part of its bill.