{"id":133166,"date":"2024-08-26T02:42:51","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T07:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=133166"},"modified":"2025-09-08T07:26:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T12:26:18","slug":"young-painted-bunting-surprise-visitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/08\/26\/young-painted-bunting-surprise-visitor\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Painted Bunting – Surprise Visitor"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was a surprise visitor at my friend Steve Creek’s bird bath<\/span><\/a> yesterday, it was a gorgeous young Painted Bunting that decided to spend some time in his yard.<\/p>\n

\"YoungYoung Painted Bunting at a bird bath \u2013 Canon R7, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 1250, +1.0 EV, Canon 100-400mm at 300mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

When I first saw the bunting, I thought it was a migrating warbler. That was until I noticed the bird’s bill, which is too heavy for a warbler. A split second later, I realized that this was a bunting.<\/p>\n

As far as I can recall, I’ve only seen a few Indigo Buntings in Steve’s yard and just one adult male Painted Bunting. They were all too far away to photograph.<\/p>\n

\"PerchedPerched young Painted Bunting \u2013 Canon R7, f8, 1\/1600, ISO 1250, Canon 100-400mm at 360mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Thankfully, this young bunting was within reach of the lens I was using! I’m grateful the bunting returned to the vine after being chased away from the bird bath by another small bird.<\/p>\n

I was focused on standing and photographing the immature bunting, unsure at the time whether it was a young Indigo or Painted Bunting.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> There’s time for identification after<\/em> I get the photos I want. I’m not going to take my eyes or camera off of the bird until then.<\/p>\n

\"FluffedFluffed up immature Painted Bunting \u2013 Canon R7, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 1250, Canon 100-400mm at 360mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I took quite a few photos while the immature bunting was perched on this vine. The bunting gave us several different poses before it flew off again.<\/p>\n

When I uploaded my photos to my external hard drive, I was fairly certain that the young bunting was a Painted, so I double-checked the ID on Merlin<\/span><\/a>, the Cornell Bird App, to confirm my identification. Merlin suggested Painted too.<\/p>\n

This young Painted Bunting was a very nice surprise for both Steve and me. I hope it sticks around for a bit before the youngster continues migrating!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Painted Bunting photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was a surprise visitor at my friend Steve Creek’s bird bath yesterday, it was a gorgeous young Painted Bunting that decided to spend some time in his yard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":133157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13950,27,15117,13951],"tags":[15008,14182,4897,6530,5817,4309,13931,4067,15118,15119,4104,2315,8018,11722,13966,4193],"class_list":["post-133166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arkansas","category-avian","category-painted-buntings","category-sebastian-county","tag-bird-bath","tag-birdbath","tag-branch","tag-bunting","tag-buntings","tag-fluffed-up","tag-garden","tag-immature","tag-painted-bunting","tag-passerina-ciris","tag-perched","tag-summer-3","tag-urban","tag-vine","tag-yard","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t