You've seen the painted buntings i show along the side bar and here is a normal adult male. My son took this shot at the feeder this summer. Note the bronzey green shoulders, middle back and part of the wings.
The male painted buntings migrate earlier than the females and young birds who are all green, so I was surprised to see a male at the feeder yesterday. Naturally I took pictures. Then I realized it was quite different, so I took some more.
He has no bronze on him at all. He's a shade of red where he should be bronze
And then when I downloaded the pictures, I saw that he was missing his left eye entirely too. You'll have to click it larger to see.
Looks like he lost it in an accident, not a birth defect. He's done well to get to be an adult with such a handicap.
He reminds me of a pirate here--Avast, ye maties!
The painted bunting guy from the study that NC and SC are doing on the birds has been here to our house for banding painted buntings and I've sent him these pictures too. It will be interesting to see what they have to say.
Amazing! I often marvel at the variation that can be present and the often surprising (often not as well) reasons for them!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting Bruce. Is he perhaps from another area and wandered down to you?? Great that he survived the odds of having only one eye, but I guess they only use one at a time in anycase, so maybe it was not too difficult for him.
ReplyDeleteHe's so pretty just the same Bruce. :c) So do you think it's just a color morph, his not having the green wings? Wish we had them here, but at least I can enjoy all your wonderful photos.
ReplyDeletePoor little guy! He certainly looks unusal in that coloration. I was just thinking about your painted buntings ealier this morning and then you post some! Wonderful shots. Will be interested in what you learn from the experts.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy seeing your Painted Buntings.
ReplyDeleteThey are beautiful birds. I am also am interested to find out about the color variation.
Sherry
Thanks for your interest all. I'm embarrassed to be getting back to you after so many days, but it took a while for someone to answer me. She says its all okay--one of the many different color variations she has seen in her years of banding. She says he looks very healthy and that the fact that he's doing so well with only one eye, shows he's doing very well.
ReplyDeleteI've had three other regular males passing through this week too--very late for them to be migrating.