[texbirds] Painted Bunting color variation Kingsland
- From: David Bryant <highlandbirds@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2012 05:11:09 -0700 (PDT)
As the wild flowers and seeds have begun to dry up, I have noticed more Painted
Buntings in my yard. The red and blue colors on the males always seem to be
about the same, but I have seen a large variation in the yellow color of their
backs. There have been birds whose back is a rich gold, pale yellow, yellow
green and even what I would call chartreuse. Saturday, I saw a bird with red
colors on it's back. Does anybody know if these variations indicate different
sub species or are they just genetic anomalies?
I saw a bird here recently that I can't figure out or find in any of my guide
books. I am going to try to post a link to some pictures, but my Picasa albums
seem to have been changes to Google + and I'm not sure they will share properly.
The bird is apparently a young of the year. It is between a bunting (5.5") and
a cardinal (8") in size. It has a yellow lower beak and a black upper beak.
It doesn't appear to have any color but light brown. It is heavily streaked in
the chest and belly and is a seed eater.
A link to some pictures including one also showing a young cardinal for size
comparison my be here.
https://plus.google.com/photos/104550265337470389424/albums/5757936989837008289?authkey=CJjp9d6ustL3PQ
David Bryant
Kingsland TX
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