Wildlife in North Carolina. June 1970. Cover illustration by Wallace Hughes.

Internet Archive

BOTD: Orange-breasted Bunting

Photo: Aaron Maizlish

"Beautiful small bunting of lowlands and foothills; endemic to west Mexico. Occurs in brushy woodland and edge, adjacent weedy fields, and open grassy areas. Often in small groups, feeding on roadside grasses and flushing up with brilliant blue flashes. Also feeds at all levels in fruiting trees and bushes."

- eBird

Reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) photos I took today 14/04/2024, Stanley, Wakefield, West Yorkshire

Corn Bunting - Trigueirão (Emberiza calandra)

Vila Franca de Xira/Portugal (16/02/2024)

[Nikon D500; AF-S Nikkor 500mm F5,6E PF ED VR; 1/250s; F5,6; 640 ISO]

The Feathursday Blues

Summer is coming to a close and our academic year is about to begin, so we’re feeling a bit blue about leaving summer behind, but we’re also excited about the new school year. So, this week we bring you some cheery chromolithographic birds of blue to begin our September. Unfortunately, those lovely little thrushes, the Bluebirds (Genus: Sialia), are not included here, but we think these blue fellows will do. They are, from top to bottom:

Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris).

Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena).

Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea), male and female.

Blue Grosbeak (Passerina caerulea).

This chromolithograph is from a painting by the noted German wildlife artist Gustav Mützel, found in our 2-volume set of Our Native Birds of Song and Beauty, by the late-19th-century director of the Milwaukee Public Museum Henry Nehrling, and published in Milwaukee by George Brumder from 1893-1896.

View more posts from Nehrling’s Our Native Birds.

View more Feathursday posts.

Common reed bunting Sussex by Adam Swaine Via Flickr: The reed bunting can be seen all year round in the UK in a variety of habitats, from reedbeds and marshes to farmland, heathland and coastal grassland.

Ballan, Victoria, Australia. 2023-04-02 11:53:56 by stuart murdoch Via Flickr: Killing time in Pub carparks. One of several projects, that explore photography as evidence amongst other ideas. Blog | Tumblr | Website | Instagram | Photography links | s2z digital garden | pixelfed.social | glass | grainary | vero | hipstamatic

happy fluffy friend Friday to the snow bunting! :>

Song Sparrow, live in concert

26/11/22-Snow Bunting and more at Milford-on-Sea  

We came here today to look for this bird that had been around, a species I was hoping I’d get a chance to see before the end of the year and as we walked towards the cafe’ we saw it was present straight away. Then we got some stunning views of this bird that has the beauty, texture and colour of a rich wedding cake. We saw it a few times whilst here for a bit this afternoon, seeing it fly high too which we’d rarely seen in past sightings of the species. It looked like a paper aeroplane gliding through the air as it flashed the bright white of its wings. These are birds that are known to be obliging for seeing when they turn up and we’ve had some amazing views of them in my five previous sightings but these were surreal and wonderful close views and some of my best ever of this species. Like the one we saw last November at Hook-with-Warsash and other of my past sightings just arriving and seeing the bird straight away is so memorable. It was a true pleasure to see and take photos of this fantastic bird, I so love seeing these, and it brought me such joy to see this bird. Joy it was great to share with a few others, fellow bird/photography enthusiasts and passers by. I took the first four and final three pictures in this photoset of it, it was so good to see it on the varied surfaces of vegetation, muddy areas and the paving by the cafe. 

This is such a fascinating and eye catching little bird. It was interesting to see it wet from the rain. It’s my most westerly ever sighting of a Snow Bunting as my five previous sightings were all at coastal spots east of home. It’s one of my best birds seen this year and is my 203rd bird of the year in a nice surge of year ticks I’ve had this month so far to take my year list into the 200s after reaching the 200 species seen this year at the end of September and making it my highest ever. It’s interesting how many of my recent year ticks have been species that were star birds of my 2019 the previous year list of mine this year beat to be my highest. It’s my fourth bunting species seen this year after Reed Bunting, Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer in another great year I’ve had seeing these wondrous and varied little birds.

Also at Milford it was lovely to see a Pied Wagtail intimately that associated with the Snow Bunting for a bit seeing them fly into each other at one point which was great, I have had a good time for seeing Pied Wagtails this month and getting chances for photos. I took the fifth and sixth pictures in this photoset of the Pied Wagtail. I also liked seeing Black-headed Gull here well with intimate views in the car park and Herring Gull over the sea as well as some Turnstones flying over the choppy sea. It did get wet whilst there so was another November Saturday seeing a rare bird in the rain after Black Redstart at Southsea Castle three weeks ago. I saw Black Redstart and Snow Bunting on the same day at Southsea Castle and the place I‘ve seen Snow Bunting most Hill Head respectively in 2017 so I always associate these with each other. It was nice to take in the views of a dramatic day here in the wet and windy weather, with Hurst Castle and the beach and spit looking nice as shown in the seventh picture I took in this photoset today. The Needles loomed nicely in the distance over on the Isle of Wight and it was interesting to see them disappear as the rain came on more. I saw a nice flower here possible a bit of thrift.

On the way here it was nice to see so much of interest from the car; some blossom on trees visible from beside the motorway near Totton which I noticed last winter another strange seasonal sight, Lower Test looking more flooded than I recall seeing before and a selection of roadside and garden flowers. This included yarrow, ragwort, hogweed and some red hot poker in someone’s garden I believe. I saw the elegant sight of a hovering Kestrel from the car which was memorable too and nice autumnal colour on the way back with lots of mistletoe seen nicely on journeys too. As we passed my old college Barton Peveril tonight on the way back I noticed the crane visible from my room and Lakeside which I saw yesterday is here for some work they’re doing as are a few other bits of tall machinery I have noticed in the view from my room the last few months. When we moved in here I had a few months of college left and I enjoyed not having too much of a walk - but an enjoyable one - to college on the days spent at this house then but it’s still fascinating to know where something visible from my room actually is. I enjoyed the spider near a crack in the hallway and the Silver-sided Sector spider the other side of the window at home tonight.

Indigo bunting in Eden, MD

Wildlife in North Carolina. June 1965. Illustration by John Taylor.

Internet Archive

BOTD: Indigo Bunting

Photo: Kelly Colgan Azar

"In parts of the East, Indigo Bunting may be the most abundant songbird, with the deep-blue males singing along every roadside. The plain brown females are seen far less often, and they have good reason to be inconspicuous: they do almost all the work of caring for the eggs and young, hidden away in dense thickets. This species favors brushy edges rather than unbroken forest, and is probably far more common today than when the Pilgrims landed."

- Audubon Field Guide

Reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) photos I took 08/10/2023, Wintersett, West Yorkshire, UK

Corn Bunting - Trigueirão (Emberiza calandra)

Vila Franca de Xira/Portugal (5/01/2024)

[Nikon D500; AF-S Nikkor 500mm F5,6E PF ED VR; 1/800s; F5,6; 400 ISO]

[image ID: three photos of birds. the first is a tree sparrow on a gravel surface. the second is a snow bunting on a rock. the last photo shows a barn swallow perched on barbed wire. end ID]

from yesterday: 2 unusual birds (for me at least), and 1 thats not so unusual :] ive only seen snow buntings twice so extra excited abt that!!!