Painted Bunting Season Coming up in Texas

Spidey · May 16, 2008

I'm hoping for more rain before we get into the Painted Bunting Season in Texas. They should start showing up by the end of this month. Of course there's other migrating species coming through, but these are my favorite. I look forward to photographing them every year.

I took this photo of a singing male last year about 10 miles from my house. At the end of the season last year, I had them in around my property. I may try to get some shots of them here without having to travel to a breeding site.

Camera: Canon 5 D
Lens: 600 f4 L IS W/1.4 X Teleconverter
Canon 550 EX Flash W/Better Beamer

Jack'll do · May 16, 2008

Ecellent capture of a really beautiful subject.

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This is the first one of these I've seen.

PrescottPhotog · May 16, 2008

Spidey wrote:

I'm hoping for more rain before we get into the Painted Bunting Season in Texas.

Hi Pete, I'm with Jack.. wow, what a beautiful bird. I've never seen one before either. Excellent capture.

Spidey · May 16, 2008

Thanks Jack & Chris.
They're sparrow sized and very wary of people. Their breeding season starts near the end of May here in Texas. They migrate through my area every year, but will only stop to breed here in elevated numbers if there is sufficient water and food.

We had some thin breeding populations here in my part of West Texas because we had severe drought conditions for many years. Our drought finally broke last year, and with the rain came the Painted Buntings in greater numbers than I've seen in many seasons.

This year is again looking very promising. We've already had some good amounts of rain and there's plenty of food available for the many species that migrate through our area.

Pete

Maestro · May 16, 2008

Very nice Spidey! I found my first painted bunting at the end of April, but I have not seen one since. They are such a pretty bird, er, handsome, er, whatever.