Painted Buntings look like brightly colored rainbows.
I don’t think Mother Nature could dream up a more vibrantly colored bird than Painted Buntings. The colors are so bright, so vivid and captivating that it’s hard not to be struck in awe at the sight of them.
There’s only one problem, it’s hard to actually get a good look at them for that star struck moment.
This Cardinalidae bird species thrives in dense vegetation and is located in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi during the summer, reaching into northeastern Mexico.
Once it’s time to migrate, Painted Buntings fly through Mexico and Florida to spend the winter in Central America and the southern part of Florida.
These birds are shy and avoid the lime-light as they stay low to the ground, foraging for seeds along roadsides, gardens, woodland edges and hedgerows.
Only when it’s time to breed do Painted Buntings change up their diet from seeds to insects in order to supply their nestlings with protein.
They’ll eat grasshoppers, weevils and other beetles, caterpillars, bugs, spiders, snails, wasps and flies during this short time.
While it may be hard to spot them in the wild, it isn’t impossible to lure them onto your property.
If you would like to entice them into your yard, strategically place a bird feeder low to the ground, around some bushes.
White millet, which is found in most bird seeds blends, should do the trick to get them to come out of hiding.