Prothonotary Warblers (Protonotaria citrea) are probably my favorite warblers. I just love their brilliant yellow plumage that seems to glow. Many warblers have touches of bright yellow, especially during the spring breeding season, but the Prothonotary Warbler outdoes them all and is almost completely covered in yellow.
I spotted this little beauty yesterday (1 May) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I initially caught sight of the warbler as it was flitting about in the foliage. I would see flashes of yellow as it foraged, but could not get a clear look at it. All of the sudden the warbler flew across the trail and landed in a bush, momentarily give me a clear shot.
Quite often I strain my neck when trying to photograph warblers, a phenomenon that is colloquially called “warbler neck.” It is so common that the Audubon website has an article entitled, “A Birder’s Workout Guide for Preventing Warbler Neck.” I was very fortunate in this case, though, that the bird was perched below eye level, so I was able to capture a lot of detail without harming my neck, detail that is often hidden when I am shooting upwards at a sharp angle.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Beautiful visitor!
It is so beautiful.
Warbler neck? I have to ask my doctor if he knows this disease. 😉
Lovely! (And I’m quite amused by the terminology for that neck crick, although it doesn’t sound like a very amusing affliction. 😉)
I think that there are all kinds of maladies that can afflict a photographer. My current concern now that the weather is getting warmer is ticks. I have already found one on me when I returned home recently and fortunately it was just crawling around and had not embedded itself.
Yikes. The worst. 😬