Yep, I raced home and got in my deer blind out back. He soon came up carefully in the thick brush.

It was HIM . . . a hobo passing through, heading north . . . and dressed like a pimp for sure in colors of the rainbow. Maybe he just wanted a meal, but I was ready in ambush . . . and I decided to shoot him.

Shoot him with a Canon of course! We've only ever seen one once before . . . and this is a lifetime-quality shot of one of the most gorgeous birds in this part of the country . . . a male Painted Bunting!!!

Enjoy the eye candy. PS: Shot with my new Canon 7D mkII camera and my trusty Canon EF 400/5.6 L super-telephoto lens.

You gonna mount that monster ?
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD

Beautiful !!

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I reckon so

THAT is really neat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Forum consigliere

Nice shot.

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Frosty
S&WCA # 2816

Had no idea we had any thing near that eye popping,cool pics!

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

Your at a zoo????

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Baby Chief Admirer
SWCA 2870

Pretty little birds. They winter down here. I put out a feeder just for them.

Related to the Cardinal. The female is mostly green.

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Dum vivo cano

Great photo, that one should be in a coffee table book.

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Jim
Many K and N Frames

Great Photo! Wish we had those here.

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gone

"[QUOTE=tom turner;138489690] We've only ever seen one once before . . . and this is a lifetime-quality shot of one of the most gorgeous birds in this part of the country . . . a male Painted Bunting!!!"


This is one of the most gorgeous birds in the WORLD. Although not as common as it's cousin the equally beautiful, albeit understated Indigo Bunting, it really is fairly common. It is rarely seen though. Likes "borders." Wooded/densely shrubby areas/grown-up fence-lines, next to open fields, hay meadows open areas. That is where to find them.

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Possum—The other white meat!

Nice catch!

Haven't seen that suspect in our neighborhood.

Tom, wish they would stop by here! FANTASTIC, as usual!

Wow, what a beautiful bird and photograph!

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"Life is short, hunt hard"

I had one of those land on my sailboat about 30 miles out in the Gulf . It stayed aboard till we got back to shore. Then it flew off toward some trees. It was a beautiful little bird.





I

Dang, Tom, that's terrific.

Seems I remember you might have posted one last year. What is your setup as far as feeders, and what do you feed?

Congrats on the new 7D--that's a heck of a machine!

We have beautiful, bright Red Cardinals here in the north east but they just don't quite compare to this stunning little guy!!

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I reckon so

Tom, Thanks for sharing your excellent photo of this beautiful little guy. It is now the wall paper on my phone to enjoy !

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I reckon so

Fantastic, Tom; thanks for sharing it with us!

Andy

Gorgeous little bird! Love the shallow focus & crisp subject.

Dave you experienced a "mini" "fall-out." Neotropical migrants (a fancy word for many of our local spring/summer birds in North America that summer/breed here, then head to the tropics to winter) will tire crossing the Gulf of Mexico if they face headwinds or frontal boundaries. Then they will "fall-out" upon whatever they can land! Oil and gas rigs, boats, even YOU! (I have had them light on my shoulders.) One of the most amazing occurances in nature.

Bird Migration and Fallouts

Everyone on this forum that likes birds owes it to themselves to make the trip to the upper-Texas coast in April/May to watch the spring migration.

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Possum—The other white meat!

The hallowed sod trod by Jackson and Lee is a bit too far north to see them.

Painted Bunting, Identification, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology

You do have thier first cousin, the Indigo Bunting:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Indigo_Bunting/id

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Possum—The other white meat!

We've seen a number of Indigo Buntings around here but never a Painted one.

Thanks for sharing that awesome photo!

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NULLI SECUNDUS

Excellent work! I'd love to know your ISO, shutter speed, and aperture setting. And was this at the full 400mm?

That's a REALLY great shot. Beautiful bird!

I also take bird pictures now and then. Here's another rare beauty!

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

That's the Long-necked Bunting. When they land on your sail boat or dilling rig the sailors and roughnecks go for a swin.

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Possum—The other white meat!

You'll need one of these:

Attached Images

51f630297c775840c9b19c2d44b1183b.jpg (31.8 KB, 62 views)

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

That's a great pic. I have only seen one Painted Bunting around here and that was several years ago. We have lots of Indigo Buntings, Blue Birds, and an occasional Blue Grosbeak, which appear to be a little larger than the others.

What does he wear on casual Friday? Beautiful picture.

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Why, I aughta.....

Depends on whether it's an African or European painted bunting.

Lovely shot, Tom. That handsome little devil is spectacular.

The indigo bunting is one of my all-time favorite birds, but to my sorrow I never see them where I live now.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Here's the exposure information for those who wanted it:
1/125th second @ f/5.6 (wide open) at 400mm. ISO 1600. Time: 6:04PM

The skies were very overcast and we've had a lot of rain, so light was pretty low. Generally, you want a shutter speed quite fast for little birds w/ a long telephoto or zoom but I had to go with what I thought would be the best compromise and hope I got a few lucky shots that were sharp.

HERE'S A CLOSE UP CROP OF THE SAME IMAGE . . .

Since several mentioned the INDIGO Bunting too . . . here's a shot of one of them, taken just 33 minutes later.

By that time light was really getting low, so I lowered my shutter speed even more into the danger zone @ 1/100, @ f/5.6 (that's as open as my lens will go) . . . and I had to push the ISO into the danger zone too at ISO 2000.

With my old Canon T1i camera it would have been a waste of time . . . but not so with the new Canon 7D mkII. I also took advantage of the 7D mkII's "silent" shutter option for these photos, and didn't spook the birds at all . . . another feature Canon put on this camera for bird and nature photographers.

Yep . . . a GREAT evening of surprises indeed!!!
PS: TWO male Indigo Buntings and the male Painted, and they kept coming back to nearly dark!

Bullseye! Outstanding.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Well, now I know what to move to the top of my list of new cameras to check out. I've been meaning to get out and start shopping for a new camera. All that I have is a bunch of old school equipment from years ago. 1 marriage, 4 kids, a mortgage,several dogs and assorted pets ( you get the picture) later and I'm woefully behind the time on today's state of the art digital cameras. Thanks for the info. Tom.

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I reckon so

http://www.fws.gov/uploadedImages/Re...mo_194x116.jpg

We get these guys flying through a couple times a year, they are real characters and the sound of a few thousand of them flying is wild:

Sandhill Crane

Listen for the sandhill crane’s call - “gar-oo-oo”- as it flies overhead looking for places to feed and rest. Look for groups of cranes in the Refuge’s marshes and grasslands, refueling for their flight to the next feeding and resting grounds.

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Jim
Many K and N Frames

I take the pictures with my eyes, store them in my head--which I will admit has an ever weakening hard-drive--and call them for me alone whenever I close my eyes. I can tell those who will listen about them too. I have almost 50 years worth stored up. Does not cost me a dime (well, I do eat more than I should).

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Possum—The other white meat!

What a beautiful bird. Miss Pam's folks live just south of the Red River and they are all over the place up there. Never seen one down here in Deer Park (Harris County) Texas but we did see an indigo bunting one summer morning about 15 or 20 years ago. And that was the only time we've ever seen one down here. It is a very spectacular shade of blue and very beautiful.

About 5 years after that we saw a sho' nuff Baltimore oriole. Just that one time only.

I guess even a bird can get lost and wander into an area he doesn't know he is not supposed to be in.

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Real men love cats!

We get a fair amount of blue birds in the area of NY that I live in. I have actually had nesting pairs of Baltimore Orioles in one of my tallest trees out back on and off for several years. Their mating acrobatics are amazing.

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I reckon so

There's a breeding pair of Cardinals that stays around my neighborhood year round.

You gotta see it when I hit them with the spray bottle. I put it on squirt and they love it. It's quite comical to see them contort under the stream just to get every inch of feather wet. Then a little preening and I get rewarded with some happy chirping.

Some where in the archives I posted some pics of the Buntings but I can't find the thread.

My pics sucked compared to Toms but I got the female in them.

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Dum vivo cano

Beautiful photo, beautiful bird. We have a quite of few of those fellows on our little ranch in the brush county. I have a bird feeder in the back yard that they frequent.

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Can my S&W Mdl 10 shoot +P

Beautiful shot. They are a holy grail bird out here. I used to get Lazuli Buntings, but once the pigeons found the feeders the food stopped and so did the chances of seeing a lot of neat birds.

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Release the Kraken

Fantastic shot. Makes me want to try all the harder with my photography. SO glad you got the shot and thanks for sharing it.
I'll share a couple.

Got this shot on a Sand Hill Crane fly by. Really felt fortunate to get it.



Another opportunity presented itself in the form of a great gray owl. Right place at the right time.

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Endeavor to persevere. <><

Nice photography. I do not have a picture, but I saw a fantastic Blue Heron in Hudson Springs park in Hudson, Ohio at dawn one day. I had my schnauzer with me and she was good for a while but she finally barked sending the Heron into the tree canopy when she wanted to resume her walk. It was a beautiful bird.

One spring weekend my wife took off to Hilton Head tennis with a friend and I was on my own. That morning I looked in my back yard and it was FULL of birds of many different kinds, including a painted bunting. I ran to the bookstore and got a copy of a big bird identification book and had a blast. Goldfinches were sitting in the spaces of the cyclone fence and they'd fly across the yard looking like brand new yellow tennis balls. A grackle showed up for some reason, which isn't a 'nice' bird but they have that iridescent blue/rainbow kind of cast. All I could figure is that my back yard had gotten kind of 'seedy' and the birds were attracted by that on their way through. Saw many birds I haven't seen around here, ever. I couldn't have a bad day after that. No ivory-billed woodpecker though.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I'm glad to see there are some photographers on this site as well as Gun lovers. I'm primarily a Sports photographer, but on occasion I'll pull out the long lens to shoot some birds as well.

MJO_5294 by MattOphotog, on Flickr

MJO_5283 by MattOphotog, on Flickr

MJO_5280 by MattOphotog, on Flickr

MJO14214 by MattOphotog, on Flickr

MJO14291 by MattOphotog, on Flickr

MJO14444 by MattOphotog, on Flickr

Matt

Beautiful....I love birds and have lot's around but none so beautiful as this one. A masterpiece of the creator.

Great shot, but then again, it's hard to miss when you use a Cannon.

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"I'm your huckleberry".

They taste like chicken.

Great shot. I'm an amateur bird watcher, and I've never seen one.
Several decades ago, I DID see an Ivory Billed Woodpecker near a swamp in GA. There were plenty of Pileated's around, so I know the difference.

In the 80s-90s, I lived in the woods. A Red Tailed nested in a tree in the front yard. I was able to watch her raise two. As they grew, she made them chase her around the tree to get fed, hopping from limb to limb. Eventually, they had to flap their wings to get to higher limbs she would wait on. That's how she taught them to fly.
Yes, I know both parents catch food, but with this pair there was a slight twist. The male hunted, but gave the food to the female for disbursement. Might have been some kind of pre-nup involved.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

[QUOTE=handejector;138492451]They taste like chicken.


Several decades ago, I DID see an Ivory Billed Woodpecker near a swamp in GA. There were plenty of Pileated's around, so I know the difference.

That's the guy I want to see. There is a recording of their toy-horn sounding call, but nobody, other than you, have seen one for a very long time. You're a lucky man. Are you sure it wasn't a pigeon?

Just kidding, boss.

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Why, I aughta.....

Great pictures! Thank you for sharing. Here is my modest offering . . .

These Lazuli Bunting often appear in our back yard when the Palo Verde blossoms are near peak.