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  Profile

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  In flight

Songbirds

Painted Bunting

Passerina ciris

• uncommon
• 32 km/h
• Least Concern

Looks like it was painted by a hyperactive toddler with every crayon. Stunning.

Population

~14 million mature individuals globally (Partners in Flight, 2016 est.; ~12 million in continental USA)

Habitat

Scrub, woodland edges, riparian thickets, and brushy secondary growth with dense understory; also roadsides, suburban gardens, and hedgerows

Fun fact

The male Painted Bunting's riot of blue, green, yellow, and red plumage earned it the French name "nonpareil," meaning "without equal."

Range

Two disjunct breeding populations: a western population from Arizona/New Mexico through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and northern Mexico, and an eastern coastal population from North Carolina/Florida through coastal Georgia and South Carolina; winters in southern Florida, the Caribbean (Cuba, Bahamas), and along Mexico's coasts to Central America

Diet

Mainly seeds (grasses, sedges, forbs) in winter; shifts to small invertebrates (insects, spiders, caterpillars, grasshoppers, snails) during breeding season and when feeding nestlings

Size

0.13 m

Wingspan

0.22 m

Lifespan

12 years