Painted bunting
I know my title is a bit of a tease because I don’t have a photo of the painted bunting to share with you. Oh, how I wish I did.
Although neighbor Tom Spencer occasionally reports seeing painted buntings in his garden, I’d never seen one until today. Returning from a mundane trip to the grocery store, I pulled into my driveway and noticed a small, multicolored ball caught in the branches of low-growing damianita near the street. As I wondered whose dog it could belong to, the ball suddenly expanded and flew into the air. Flashes of blue, green, and red turned into a bird as it shot up into the Arizona ash next door. A painted bunting! I slammed on my brakes, crept slowly out of the car to get to the trunk, where my camera happened to be. I tried to keep my eyes on the bird, but then a neighbor called out to me, I looked away, and it was gone.
But what a vision it was, rivaling even the lilac-breasted roller I saw in Tanzania (above) last year.
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What a beautiful bird, I mean what beautiful birds. The Bunting is gorgeous…oh those friendly neighbors(!) Maybe he will return to your damianita or the Arizona ash. Gail
My neighbor is a lovely woman, and I can’t be annoyed with anyone but myself for looking away. 🙂 I do hope to see the bunting again. —Pam
Painted buntings are such cool birds! Congratulations on attracting them to your garden.
(I’m still excited that I have ladybug larvae all over my dill plant. I’m working up to attracting black swallowtails, apparently. Cool birds are still a couple of years off. :))
I am still kind of floating on air that I saw one here. When I told my husband, he was very jealous of the sighting. —Pam
We had one in our garden a couple of years ago. No mistaking it. I was in the garage and saw it on the window ledge, rushed into the house to get the camera and it was gone. Boo!! I had much better luck when, walking out the front gate, I spotted a fox up in the persimmon tree eating the persimmons. A big part of their fall diet by all accounts. He was pretty too.
Hope you catch site of the bunting again-with camera in hand.
jenny
My bird guide said they are shy birds, and so they seem. It would be a blissful moment to capture one on camera. But your persimmon-eating fox sounds like an incredible sighting too. Did you get a photo? —Pam
My only sighting of a painted bunting made my heart sing, too, Pam – when the bird landed on my rosemary it was kind of like “Nature likes me!! She really likes me!!”
Pam in SC had a pair that returned to her garden a few times – how cool is that!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Yes, that’s how I felt. Isn’t it amazing that a tiny creature can stir that level of delight in our hearts? —Pam
Oh, rats, you missed photographing a really beautiful bird! I had to immediately look it up in my bird books. What an inopportune time to be called out to by your neighbor.
I know! I regret not getting a photo, but I won’t forget the moment. —Pam
What a treat! I hope you’ll see the little beauty again, hopefully at a time when the neighbor isn’t around…and the camera is in your hand 🙂 I saw an Indigo Bunting at our feeder once and did manage a photo, but it was early morning and the feeder was in shadow. Those rare sightings are exciting!
Lucky you to see an indigo bunting too, and to get a photo even if in shadow. Good job! —Pam
Oh you lucky lady. I would just faint if I saw a painted bunting in my garden. Hopefully we will all get to see it next time.
If you’d faint, you’d miss it, Lisa. Must stay awake. 😉 I hope you do see one in your garden one day, and I’m hoping this one will return to mine soon. —Pam
Pam, I find it so interesting how beautiful creatures and beautiful flowers can excite and inspire us they way they do, and how we must be awake and aware in order to notice them and their fleeting beauty. How exciting it must have been to see the bunting.
Your Tanzanian bird is gorgeous. Great shot!
It was very exciting, but I agree—it’s interesting how much these kinds of things can affect us. The lilac-breasted roller was another inspiring sight. Even though they were fairly commonplace, we never stopped exclaiming over them with delight. —Pam
This is the grandest place to come visit. I applaud your blogging life. I know nothing about birds so this was a treat for me. When I come to your blog I get carried away and end up staying for quite some time. Thank you for sharing so much and offering all your beauty and knowledge with the rest of us. I appreciate you for it.
What a lovely compliment. Thank you, Anna! —Pam
I want some of those! I think it will be back posing for you before you know it! The best things in life really are free!
That’s true. I need to go out and be still in the garden (so hard!) to see if he’s come back. —Pam
Taking photos of birds is really a challenge which verge on frustration for me. I gave up – but I know how you felt. Birds are the best gift nature gave us. We can enjoy them in the city or even in the desert. I have some desert photos of Namibia and there are beautiful birds but no bird photos. aghhh…
Ps. you will enjoy the tame Kudu.
It was astonishing to me how beautiful the birds were in Tanzania, which was so dry and dusty and brown at that time of year (late June, which is the middle of winter and the dry season there). But their colorful feathers stood out all the better against that drab landscape. —Pam
I hope it comes back and you get a picture of it to share!
Me too. Fingers crossed. —Pam
A painted bunting! How nifty! It is so hard getting photos of birds, they always move on me just as I am about to get the shot.
My bird books say this one is extremely shy, so I don’t have much hope of a photograph. But I would be overjoyed just to catch a glimpse of it again. —Pam
I’m having the same problem getting a shot of the woodpeckers in my driveway! Not as glamorous as the painted bunting, but flighty nonetheless. I’ll cross my fingers for you to get your bunting – I’m sure it will be a glorious picture!
Woodpeckers are fascinating too. I hope you are successful in getting Woody’s picture. —Pam
I just saw my first painting bunting in Austin YESTERDAY! I wonder if they are having a good population year…or maybe all us Austin gardeners really are starting to provide them good habitats and we’ll all start seeing more. That would be awesome.
Like a tropical splash!
Very cool, Lee! Aren’t they incredible? As you say, like a bird you’d see in a tropical rain forest. I’m still hoping for another sighting. —Pam
I just saw a painted bunting this morning and had no idea what it was until I found a picture and description on the internet. I had never seen a bird with so many colors and green patches on the wings other than parrots. I live in Luling, Texas outside of town and get several kinds of birds including bluebirds, but nothing like this! It was beautiful!!!!!
Trish
I’m envious, Patricia. I haven’t had another glimpse of a painted bunting since that one quick sighting. They are very beautiful, and I’m glad you were graced with its visit. Thanks for commenting. —Pam