The Northern Parula is one of the smallest warblers in North America, a jewel of blue-gray, yellow, and green that forages high in the canopy of moist mature forests. The male shows a blue-gray hood over a yellow throat and breast crossed by a rusty and blue-black band, with a distinctive yellow-green patch on the back and bold white eye-arcs. Its rising, buzzy trill that snaps over at the top — "zeeeeeee-up" — is a characteristic sound of rich streamside woodlands.
The parula has a special tie to its nesting material: it builds its nest inside hanging clumps of lichen (old man's beard) or, in some areas, Spanish moss, hollowing out a pocket in the dangling growth. That preference draws it to humid, mature forests, often along rivers and lakes, where such lichens flourish. In Michigan it breeds mainly in the north and passes through the south as a migrant before heading to tropical wintering grounds.
Gleans small insects, caterpillars, and spiders from the outer foliage of the canopy, often working the tips of branches and hovering to reach prey. Its tiny size lets it forage among the smallest twigs and leaf clusters high in mature trees.
It prefers to nest inside hanging clumps of lichen (old man's beard) or Spanish moss, so it favors humid, mature forests — often along streams and lakes — where such growth is abundant.
Look high for a very small blue-gray warbler with a yellow throat and breast, a greenish patch on the back, and white eye-arcs. The male shows a rusty-and-dark band across the chest.
A rising, buzzy trill that climbs and then trips over at the end, often written "zeeeeee-up." It is high and insect-like but distinctive once learned.
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