Painted Bunting

Painted Buntings are a Central American bird that breeds in the south-central and coastal southeastern US. I photographed these in South Carolina which is the northernmost of their range along the Atlantic coast. The male Painted Bunting is very colorful, as the name suggests.

The females and young are a more practical bright green color that is more suitable for avoiding the attention of predators while nesting.

Painted Buntings spend most of the time deep in the dense growth so I was fortunate to be walking along a wildlife refuge road when a small group came out to gather seeds and grit from the mowed area along the road.