Painted Buntings: now arriving in South Carolina

Every year around April 15th, Painted Buntings leave their winter homes in Florida and points south and return to breeding areas in the Carolinas. Now is a great time to start preparing your feeders for the arrival of these tired colorful commuters. Welcome the Painted Buntings home with a clean feeder full of fresh white millet seed.

The first time I laid eyes upon this spectacularly plumaged songbird, I was in awe. “What kind of bird is that?” I whispered to my neighbor, as we sat on her back porch overlooking the marsh.

“It’s a Painted Bunting,” she replied, “a neotropical songbird that spends the spring and summer here on the South Carolina sea islands.

“Ohhhhh,” I breathed, still gazing at the sparrow-sized bird busily milling through tiny white seeds in the feeder. This Disney-colored bird looked as if someone had dipped him into primary colored tempera paints—red, blue, yellow, and green. From that moment on, I wanted to learn everything I could about this multi-colored ornithological wonder including how to attract him and his family to my feeders.

I discovered the PBOT (Painted Bunting Observer Team) web site online, whose goal is to observe, record, and catalogue sightings of Painted Buntings. PBOT’s mission: to find out why this beautiful species is in decline and to do something about it. PBOT is always looking for interested citizen scientists, like myself, to register and report Painted Bunting sightings, so two years ago, I enthusiastically signed up. I welcomed any excuse to sit and observe these incredible birds. As a team member, I  log the feeding time, feeding duration, and sex of the buntings that visit my observation area, onto the very easy-to-use  PBOT web site.

Male Painted Buntings are unmistakable with their blue, red, green, and yellow plumage. Females and immature males are almost entirely green, and juveniles that have recently fledged the nest are overall drab to olive brown with buff under parts. Since females and young males are both green, and difficult to differentiate, PBOT refers to them both as “green birds.” 

Painting Bunting female photo by Patti Romano

The Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) breeds in two distinct populations—one in the Midwest and one in the southeastern United States. The buntings favor somewhat open areas with dense brush at all seasons. Their diet consists mostly of seeds and insects, with insects predominating during the breeding season, and the birds forage mostly on the ground or in low brush. A Painted Bunting nest is an open, woven cup of grass, leaves, roots, and animal hair. Nesting areas are usually in the dense shrub and scrub brush of the Atlantic coastal plain areas and the sea islands. The biggest threat to this beautiful species, I discovered, was the destruction of habitat in the coastal Carolinas.

Painted Bunting populations are declining at a steady rate. Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) Data collected since 1966 show a 3.2% decline per year for Painted Buntings in the southeast region. The Painted Bunting's decline may be due to a variety of factors--mostly increased coastal development and new agricultural practices, both of which destroy clear shrub-scrub brush that serves as vital breeding areas.

Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) Data from 1966-1995 showing decline in the number of Painted Buntings counted per survey route. BBS datasets are available at www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBS/

What can you do for Painted Buntings in Charleston, South Carolina?

• Join the PBOT citizen scientist team at www.paintedbuntings.org. Record your sightings on the PBOT site.
• Attract breeding buntings to your yard by supplying white millet seed in a clean feeder.
• Don’t clear all the scrub brush around your yard. Leave natural areas where buntings can nest and forage for indigenous insects and seeds.
• Speak out against extensive coastal area development and destruction of valuable habitats.
• Encourage native landscaping projects, and avoid use of pesticides, especially in wetland areas.

“What kind of bird is that?” your grandchildren will whisper, wide-eyed, as they gaze in wonder at the bunting’s stunning red, blue, green, and yellow plumage... 

  Both male Painted Bunting photos were taken by Dr. Jamie Rotenberg, PBOT, and can only be used with his explicit permission.