chestnut-sided warbler, watercolor on 300lb paper. The Chestnut-sided Warbler (*Setophaga pensylvanica*) is a small, strikingly patterned songbird of North America. Breeding males are particularly eye-catching, with a bright yellow-green cap, bold black-and-white striped face, clean white underparts, and — as the name suggests — rich chestnut streaking running along both sides of the breast and flanks. Their wings are dark with two yellowish wing bars. Females and non-breeding birds are somewhat duller, showing the same general pattern but with less vibrant colors and reduced chestnut on the sides. In their non-breeding plumage, they become one of the few warblers that looks notably different from their spring selves, displaying a lime-green back and clean whitish underparts with very little chestnut. They are lively, active birds often seen foraging in the mid-to-lower levels of shrubby forest edges and second-growth woodlands. The male's song is a cheerful, emphatic phrase commonly rendered as *"pleased, pleased, pleased to MEET cha,"* making them relatively easy to identify by ear as well as by sight.
