{"id":8005,"date":"2013-04-01T08:52:44","date_gmt":"2013-04-01T14:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=8005"},"modified":"2026-02-02T08:47:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:47:01","slug":"breaking-news-the-worlds-first-brown-cowbird-x-painted-bunting-hybrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/04\/01\/breaking-news-the-worlds-first-brown-cowbird-x-painted-bunting-hybrid\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking News: The World&#8217;s first Brown Cowbird x Painted Bunting Hybrid!!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-8004 size-full\" title=\"The World's first Painted Bunting x Brown Cowbird Hybrid\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/painted-bunting-cowbird-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-1880.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/painted-bunting-cowbird-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-1880.jpg\" alt=\"The World's first Painted Bunting x Brown Cowbird Hybrid\" width=\"720\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27720%27%20height%3D%27514%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20720%20514%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27720%27%20height%3D%27514%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/painted-bunting-cowbird-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-1880-150x107.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/painted-bunting-cowbird-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-1880-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/painted-bunting-cowbird-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-1880-250x178.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/painted-bunting-cowbird-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-1880-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/painted-bunting-cowbird-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-1880-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/painted-bunting-cowbird-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-1880-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/painted-bunting-cowbird-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-1880.jpg 720w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><strong>The World&#8217;s first Painted Bunting x Brown Cowbird Hybrid<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I had just finished my shower this morning and opened the front window to get some fresh air when this strange bird flew in and landed on the flowerbed in front of my window. It was so colorful that I quickly grabbed my camera and I was able to get this one image before the bird flew away.<\/p>\n<p>From the plumage pattern, the bill, shape of the bird, colors and the bright red eye ring I was able to ID this fine feathered friend as the world&#8217;s first <strong>Brown Cowbird x Painted Bunting<\/strong> hybrid ever!! How it came to be in my front yard is a miracle and how these two species bred is too!<\/p>\n<p>Will backyards everywhere soon have the kaleidoscope colored hybrid in their backyards too? Will people start appreciating Brown Cowbirds more if they know they might see one of these wonders sometime soon? \u00a0Imagine flocks of these numbering in the thousands, we will all need sunglasses so our eyes don&#8217;t melt from the vibrant colors!<\/p>\n<p>Wouldn&#8217;t you love to see this gorgeous hybrid too?<\/p>\n<p><strong>April Fools!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the plumage pattern, the bill, shape of the bird, colors and the bright red eye ring I was able to ID this fine feathered friend as the world&#8217;s first Brown Cowbird x Painted Bunting hybrid ever!! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,89],"tags":[5356,4021,4083,90,519,4035,102,4032],"class_list":["post-8005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-humor","tag-april-fools","tag-bird-photography","tag-birding","tag-humor-2","tag-nature","tag-nature-photography","tag-wildlife","tag-wildlife-photography"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/painted-bunting-cowbird-hybrid-mia-mcpherson-1880.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-257","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":130524,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/07\/13\/young-brown-headed-cowbird-with-a-gluttonous-appetite\/","url_meta":{"origin":8005,"position":0},"title":"Young Brown-headed Cowbird With A Gluttonous Appetite","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a short story, based in facts, about a gluttonous young Brown-headed Cowbird that visited my friend Steve Creek's feeder in Arkansas for several days.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Arkansas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Brown-headed Cowbird in Arkansas, Sebastian County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/brown-headed-cowbird-immature-mia-mcpherson-6552.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/brown-headed-cowbird-immature-mia-mcpherson-6552.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/brown-headed-cowbird-immature-mia-mcpherson-6552.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/brown-headed-cowbird-immature-mia-mcpherson-6552.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":133166,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/08\/26\/young-painted-bunting-surprise-visitor\/","url_meta":{"origin":8005,"position":1},"title":"Young Painted Bunting &#8211; Surprise Visitor","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Arkansas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perched young Painted Bunting, Sebastian County, Arkansas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/painted-bunting-immature-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-5372.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/painted-bunting-immature-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-5372.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/painted-bunting-immature-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-5372.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/painted-bunting-immature-arkansas-mia-mcpherson-5372.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":113894,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/06\/20\/male-indigo-bunting-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":8005,"position":2},"title":"Male Indigo Bunting at Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm thrilled with the photos I took of a male Indigo Bunting at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma yesterday morning near the Arkansas River.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Indigo Bunting near the Arkansas River, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/indigo-bunting-adult-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-0383.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/indigo-bunting-adult-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-0383.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/indigo-bunting-adult-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-0383.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/indigo-bunting-adult-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-0383.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":154802,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/09\/08\/immature-painted-bunting-getting-ready-to-migrate\/","url_meta":{"origin":8005,"position":3},"title":"Immature Painted Bunting Getting Ready To Migrate","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The last, and probably best, bird I saw and photographed yesterday at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge was a molting immature Painted Bunting.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Painted Bunting at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/painted-bunting-immature-mia-mcpherson-8058.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/painted-bunting-immature-mia-mcpherson-8058.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/painted-bunting-immature-mia-mcpherson-8058.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/painted-bunting-immature-mia-mcpherson-8058.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":70937,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/06\/17\/female-brown-headed-cowbird-in-a-serviceberry\/","url_meta":{"origin":8005,"position":4},"title":"Female Brown-headed Cowbird In A Serviceberry","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Three days ago one of the birds that the Song Sparrows chased off was an adult female Brown-headed Cowbird that landed on a serviceberry in front of me.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Brown-headed Cowbird perched in a Utah Serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6004.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6004.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6004.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6004.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58897,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/07\/05\/goofy-looking-upside-down-displaying-male-brown-headed-cowbird\/","url_meta":{"origin":8005,"position":5},"title":"Goofy Looking Upside Down Displaying Male Brown-headed Cowbird","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This photo of a displaying male Brown-headed Cowbird in a goofy upside down pose is not a good photo technically but I absolutely love the behavior it shows.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Upside down male Brown-headed Cowbird, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-upside-down-mia-mcpherson-5178.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-upside-down-mia-mcpherson-5178.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-upside-down-mia-mcpherson-5178.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/brown-headed-cowbird-upside-down-mia-mcpherson-5178.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}