Hello again. Are you sure you had Painted Buntings? Their range is nowhere close to New York. Their eastern breeding range ends in coastal North Carolina. They usually do not nest in trees either, but prefer brushy thickets and scrub. Are you sure you didn't have house finches instead? What did these birds look like?
I'm in Maine and we have a few places where even right now there have been a few Painted Buntings reported. Last year there was a guy in Bath, ME who had one in his yard and even Summer Tanagers. It was very strange but verified, except for the photos sent through our MaineBirding listserv I have never seen those.
one of these was being harassed by birds in one of our apple trees. At first I thought it was a mockingbird or catbird [both mimics] until I saw it fly off. We get oddball birds here once in a great while- last summer we had a Canada jay hanging around for a few weeks, one summer we had a couple of painted buntings, and a rufous-sided towhee
They're called Gray Jays and either Eastern Towhees (eastern sp.) or Spotted Towhees (west) depending on your geographic location. Where are you at where you would get Painted Bunting and Gray Jays. Seems like an odd mix.
central NY- the gray jay must have been blown down here by a storm- He hung around and generally made a pest of himself at our barbecues- landing on the table, stealing food etc. we called him Pesky. The painted buntings tried to nest in one of our fruit trees but the house sparrows drove them off, and the towhee showed up one spring- didn't hang around long though
Hello again. Are you sure you had Painted Buntings? Their range is nowhere close to New York. Their eastern breeding range ends in coastal North Carolina. They usually do not nest in trees either, but prefer brushy thickets and scrub. Are you sure you didn't have house finches instead? What did these birds look like?
spindalis79 2 years ago
I'm in Maine and we have a few places where even right now there have been a few Painted Buntings reported. Last year there was a guy in Bath, ME who had one in his yard and even Summer Tanagers. It was very strange but verified, except for the photos sent through our MaineBirding listserv I have never seen those.
Needsmoreritalin 2 years ago
one of these was being harassed by birds in one of our apple trees. At first I thought it was a mockingbird or catbird [both mimics] until I saw it fly off. We get oddball birds here once in a great while- last summer we had a Canada jay hanging around for a few weeks, one summer we had a couple of painted buntings, and a rufous-sided towhee
richintalent 3 years ago
They're called Gray Jays and either Eastern Towhees (eastern sp.) or Spotted Towhees (west) depending on your geographic location. Where are you at where you would get Painted Bunting and Gray Jays. Seems like an odd mix.
spindalis79 2 years ago
central NY- the gray jay must have been blown down here by a storm- He hung around and generally made a pest of himself at our barbecues- landing on the table, stealing food etc. we called him Pesky. The painted buntings tried to nest in one of our fruit trees but the house sparrows drove them off, and the towhee showed up one spring- didn't hang around long though
richintalent 2 years ago
That's really cool. I am hoping to see some Gray Jays this year. There are tons of them a few hours from my house, yet none down here.
Needsmoreritalin 2 years ago