Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)

Compiled by Lisa S. Graham
Photo credit:  David Hollie, Macaulay Library

Mature male Painted Buntings are impossible to misidentify.  The vibrant combination of blue, green, red, and orange isn’t seen on any other bird in North America.  The female and immature males are much more muted in coloring, but still a bright green.

Painted Buntings are larger than the Goldfinch but smaller than the Eastern Bluebird; they have a stubby, thick bill that supports their seed-eating habits.  We see them in Central Texas during breeding season when they migrate up from Central America, where they overwinter.  They typically arrive in greater numbers during April and May, but you may see a few as early as the first week of March.  They’ll generally migrate back to Central America between late July and mid-October.

They prefer dense brush which can make them hard to spot, but it’s so worth it to actually see one IRL.  I’ve seen a mated pair on my feeders a couple of times during breeding season where they joined up with the Lesser Goldfinches to eat from the nyjer feeder.  It’s always a thrill.

You generally won’t find multiple mating pairs in the same area as the males will drive other males from their territory – generally about 3 acres in size.  They court a prospective mate by spreading their feathers much like a turkey.  The pairs are generally monogamous, but sometimes there will be two females nesting in the male’s territory.

The female of the mated pair will build the nest in dense foliage, with perches and open feeding grounds close by, using twigs, bark strips, and grasses bound together with cobwebs.  She will lay 3 to 4 eggs and up to 3 broods per season.  The eggs incubate up to 12 days with the nestlings remaining the nest for up to 9 days.

Because of their distinctive coloring and the demand for them as cage birds, illegal trade exists in their wintering grounds where the birds are trapped and sold.  This causes some concern for conservationist – the Painted Bunting population has dropped 33% between 1966 and 2019.  Their nests are also a favorite target of cowbirds.  Regardless, the Painted Bunting is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List as being least concern since their population remains stable and not severely fragmented.

A couple of interesting facts about Painted Buntings:

• They molt as they migrate which is common for water birds but very unusual for songbirds – they stop over in northwestern Mexico and some southern parts of Arizona to molt before continuing south to their wintering grounds.
• The French name for the Painted Bunting is Nonpareil (without equal) – and I have to agree.

If you get these birds to your feeders, consider yourself lucky.  You’ll have a better chance of attracting them if you have low, dense vegetation and if you put out white or hulled millet seeds in a tube feeder, preferably with a cage around it to deter larger birds.

Sources include All About Birds (Cornell), Audubon Field Guide, and IUCN Red List.