Painted Bunting Season Coming up in Texas

[Spidey]

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]

Ecellent capture of a really beautiful subject. :thumb:thumb
This is the first one of these I've seen.

[PrescottPhotog]

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.:clap

[Spidey]

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]

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. :D

[dbaker1221]

that is soooo very cool!!!!!!!!!! great capture:barb :barb

[Harryb]

Marvelous colors :clap

[raptorcaptor]

Great capture! :clap

[redleash]

Gorgeous bunting! I've seen blues and lazulis but no painted. Where is Ballinger? I know a lot of small Texas towns, but not yours. :dunno

Looking forward to more of your bird photos.

Lauren

[Spidey]

Lauren,
It's about 30 miles north of San Angelo.

[summerz]

What an amazing Bird.:lust :thumb

[thefireguy]

Great shot! I wish Maryland had more colorful birds.....The more i get into bird photography the more I want to move to a tropical place.