Painted Bunting (male)

Description:

Painted Buntings are medium-sized finches with stubby, thick, seed-eating bills. Males are stunningly colored with blue heads, red underparts, and green backs. Females and immatures are a uniform, bright yellow-green overall, with a pale eyering. Though they are basically unpatterned, their overall color is greener and brighter than similar songbirds.

Habitat:

This male is in the top of an Oak tree singing. The tree is by a city maintained retention pond.

Notes:

They are listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, and on the Partners in Flight Watch List as a species of concern. The eastern population is suffering from habitat loss and degradation as humans destroy swampy thickets and woodland edges for urban development. Other important sites for conservation include molt staging habitats in Arizona and northwestern Mexico. Loss of riverside thickets in those areas may be hurting the western Painted Bunting population. In addition to facing habitat destruction, Painted Buntings are popular cage birds and are often trapped on their wintering grounds and sold illegally.