Friday, August 20, 2010

Interesting Articles on Painted Buntings and Titmice


Painted bunting photo courtesy of Doug Jenson, Wikimedia Commons.
Two wonderful little birds in our area are the Painted Bunting and Tufted Titmouse. The recent edition of the occasional Oklahoma Biological Survey Newsletter has interesting articles on each of these birds (as well as other topics.)


I had a talk with someone recently about painted buntings. Many people aren't aware of these colorful birds in our area because they inhabit the county, not the city. I have had a female at my feeders before in spring migration, but it was only for a day and she hightailed it out of town into the surrounding countryside. This is the time of year, the painted buntings are leaving us for their wintering grounds (see the article cited above).


We do get to keep the tufted titmouse all year around and we do have both the tufted and black-crested species. Whether we are in the hybridizatioin area mentioned in the newsletter article, I am not sure.
It's always a good birding day when seeing or hearing either of these birds.
By the way, if you're interested in receiving notice when the Oklahoma Biological Survey newsletter is published, you can email Amy Buthod at amybouthod@ou.edu to be placed on the distribution list.
Good birding!

2 comments:

Elizabeth B Hawley said...

I was delighted to see this post about the Painted Bunting and the Tufted Titmouse. I saw them in Archer County just a couple of days ago.

Penny Miller said...

Always a joy to see either one.