The Northern Parula (Setophaga americana) is a small, colorful wood warbler found breeding in forests across eastern North America, from southern Canada down through the eastern United States, and wintering in Central America, the Caribbean, and southern Florida. It is easily identified by its blue-gray upperparts, yellow throat and breast, white eye crescents, and a distinctive bronze-green patch on its back, with males also sporting a dark chest band that females and immatures typically lack or show only faintly. This species favors mature forests with hanging epiphytic growth, nesting almost exclusively in clumps of Spanish moss in the south or old man's beard lichen in the north, which it uses to construct a hanging pouch-like nest. Northern Parulas forage actively for insects and spiders in the mid-to-upper canopy, often hanging upside down from twigs and foliage in a manner similar to chickadees, and their song is a distinctive rising buzzy trill that ends in an abrupt downslur. Populations declined in parts of the 20th century due to air pollution affecting the lichens and mosses they depend on for nesting, but the species remains classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, with populations now stable or increasing across much of its range.