A sweet, ongoing warble that sounds like graffiti, graffiti, spaghetti for two, and that is the sound of the male (or immature male) Painting Bunting. The male receives his handsome dress no earlier than his second year of life. This uncommon beauty is located along forest edges, wooded ravines, shrubby river bottoms, or in tall trees, and it is very at home along riparian forest. If you have ever heard that song, you will never forget it.
One of the most beautiful and colorful birds, this splash of radiance is found from May through July in the better part of Oklahoma, except the panhandle, which lacks forest and brushy thickets.
Males are very territorial and will battle other interlopers while females are arriving in the area. They have been known to wound or kill other males, and if the female should be caught up within a fracas, she can also risk injury. This species favors invertebrates, and will even remove prey from spider's webs in order to feed. The males are relentless during spring.
Male Painted Bunting
Boomer Creek, 2015
Often parasitized by the Brown-headed Cowbird, this member of the cardinal family is known collectively as a mural or palette of buntings. When males migrate to warmer regions for the winter, they still retain their beautiful plumage and do not molt into drabness.
Due to loss of habitat, the species is declining in both the US and Central America. They may still be trapped as cage birds in the illegal trade south of our country, and have a near threatened conservation status.
If you have had any of these birds in your back yard, they will visit feeders, and you'll be even more fortunate if you have the perfect habitat for a nesting pair.
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