Visual Search | Wizard | Browse
Bird name:
Home| Search| Browser| Expert| Forum| Store| My WhatBird| Help| Site Map

Painted Bunting

Passerina cirisOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Cardinals and Grosbeaks (Cardinalidae)
Codes: Common Name: PABU Scientific Name: PASCIR ITIS Taxonomic No.: 179156
Near Threatened
 
Painted Bunting_2
Copyright © 2004 - 2008 Whatbird.com



Rate this Illustration: Excellent Very Good Good
Fair Below Avg Poor

Birdman Mel's Backyard Tips
Jelly Jar Jelly Feeder
The orange "blossum" replaces the lid of a jelly jar.
Attract Orioles with Fruit
Sliced orange secures easily to the center of the ring. Low cost.
Attract with Nectar
Hex shaped nectar feeds several Orioles. Nectar kept in fridge.
Charm and Attraction
Lovely copper umbrella keeps fruit cool and looks great.

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

Splitbar
Range Map for Painted Bunting

Related Birds

Indigo Bunting
Lazuli Bunting
Blue Grosbeak
Varied Bunting
Blue Bunting
.
Family Cardinals and Grosbeaks (Cardinalidae)_blue
Species Passerina ciris
Length5 - 5.5 Inches
Wingspan8.25 Inches

Painted Bunting

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.

● Song: "tsick"

● Foraging & Feeding: Painted Bunting: Eats mostly seeds in winter and insects, spiders, and snails in summer. Forages on the ground; also strips seed from grass stalks or snatches insects from spider webs.

● Breeding & nesting: Painted Bunting: Three to five light blue eggs with red brown markings are laid in a cup nest made of grass stems, rootlets, and bark strips, lined with moss and hair, and built near the ground in a bush or small tree. Incubation ranges from 11 to 12 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Painted Bunting: Male is unique; female is much greener than other female buntings.

Flight Pattern

Short flights wih rapid wing beats.
Painted Bunting Body Illustration_2
● Range & 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.
BreedingMonogamous
Population
MigrationMigratory
Weight0.8 Ounces
Perching-like BodyX
UnderpartsX
Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.
NapeX
Also called the hindneck or collar, it is the back of the neck where the head joins the body.
RumpX
The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.
ShoulderX
The short feathers overlying the median secondary coverts on the top of the wing. They are located near the back and can be seen as the “first row” of feathers on the birds wing. They are also called marginal coverts and lesser secondary coverts.
4 and 6 letter alpha codesX

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Read more...
ITIS CodesX

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) was established in the mid-1990�s as a cooperative project among several federal agencies to improve and expand upon taxonomic data (known as the NODC Taxonomic Code) maintained by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

To find the ITIS page for a bird species go to the ITIS web site advanced search and report page at http://www.itis.gov/advanced_search.html. You can enter the TSN or the common name of the bird. It will return the ITIS page for that bird. Another way to obtain the ITIS page is to use the Google search engine. Enter the string ITIS followed by the taxonomic ID, for example "ITIS 178041" will return the page for the Allen's Hummingbird.

Read more...
Parts of a Standing birdX
Head Feathers and MarkingsX
Parts of a Flying birdX