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Birdman Mel's Backyard Tips
Overview
Painted Bunting: Beautiful, medium bunting with bronze-green back and bright red rump and underparts. Head and nape are blue. Red eye-ring. Wings are dark with green shoulder patches. Feeds on seeds, insects and caterpillars. Short, low flight. Alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.
Range and Habitat
Painted Bunting: Breeds from Missouri and North Carolina south to the southeastern states and west to New Mexico and Oklahoma. Spends winters from the Gulf coast states southward. Preferred habitats include brushy tangles, hedgerows, briar patches, woodland edges, and swampy thickets.
Topo Map:
Perching-like Body
Listen to Call
Similar Sounding
Voice Text
"tsick"
Interesting Facts
The Painted Bunting is one of the most brilliantly colored and visually striking birds in all of the United States. It is the only bird in the U.S. to have a blue head and red underparts.
The USGS recorded a 60% decline in population from coastal Georgia between 1966 and 1995. Decline has been attributed to loss of breeding habitat due to urban development, increased nest parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds and several problems attributed to climate change.
The Painted Bunting’s species name, ceris, comes from the Greek myth of Scylla, who was turned into the bird keiris.
A group of painted buntings are collectively known as a "mural" and a "palette" of buntings.
Bird Term Glossary
Author
Gary Owen Dick
Related Birds
Indigo Bunting
Lazuli Bunting
Blue Grosbeak
Varied Bunting
Blue Bunting
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