Painted Buntings
May 14, 2010 – 7:02 am
Painted Buntings - Female-left, Male-right
Today’s POTD comes from our Council President, Betty Gourdin, who spotted these beauties just outside the window of her study. Husband Keith snapped the photo.
They are a nesting pair of Painted Buntings, male with his unmistakable red, yellow-green and blue plummage, female in a duller plummage that becomes electric yellow-green in bright light.
These finches are considered near-threatened, i.e. on the watch list for protection, so seeing them at your feeders is always a special treat. They love millet, milo and niger seeds and will also forage on the ground and around low shubbery for caterpillars, spiders and other small insects.
Although shy birds around humans, males can be very aggressive towards other finches, wrens and chickadees, particularly during the summer nesting months.
If you see something this beautiful in your yard, send it my way and I’ll be happy to share.
Happy Day,
Trish
2 Responses to “Painted Buntings”
Trish
Actually none of the birds care much for the Milo, it is just a cheap filler the seed company’s use
Van
By Van Atkins on May 14, 2010
Thanks Trish, for making this your POTD. Keith is thrilled and so am I. Its almost as good as seeing the buntings themselves, but not quite. I think you may have heard my yell all the way to Riverland Terrace when I first saw one on the feeder last year. I’d been wanting to see one so badly. They don’t seem to like the lake. We have the Blue Buntings at our farm (Buck Hall), they are pretty too, but no comparison to the Painted Bunting. B
By BettyGourdin on May 14, 2010