Here are a bunch of shots of a mystery bird from earlier today. I’m assuming these are all of the same bird, but I wasn’t on the camera at the time, and don’t really know that. The shots are by birdbrain, txbird, birdbrain, kryptonkay, birdbrain, and kryptonkay, respectively:
That hint of a light eyestripe running back from the eye in the first shot gives me pause; the first thing I thought when I saw that was, whoa, is that a female House Sparrow? But even with that, I think I’d vote for a female Painted Bunting. It’s the second shot that pushes me that way. The bird appears to be feeding on the same plant’s seeds that we’ve been seeing the Painted Bunting feeding on lately, and it’s going about it in what looks to me like a fairly bunting-like manner.
What do the rest of you think?
I was watching and the behaviour was the same of some Painted Buntings we have seen. i think I’ve got a this bird again 7/12 4:31pm.