Amazing bird news out of New York City this week as a mature male Painted Bunting was spotted in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. It has caused quite an uproar among the birding world and no wonder - the mature male Painted Bunting is known as the most colorful songbird in North America and a personal favorite of J. Audubon himself. A very rare and elusive bird Painted Buntings have been coming to the Florida backyard every October for years. The eastern population tends to breed and summer in the coastal Carolinas - rarely as far north as New Jersey in the summer, but New York City in winter - that's almost unheard of. This handsome fellow in NYC should be down here in my backyard! The immature males and female Painted Buntings are and attractive jade green and wonderful in their own right - but nothing can compare to the male - that is why he is called nonparallel. Typically they stay in the dense brush behind our backyard from October to April and the ratio of mature males to "greenies" is typically 4 or 6 six green to one crayola. Enjoy him Big Apple while you can - even the amazing Painted Bunting can get New Yorker's excited that's saying something! Press story from the New York Times!
