The Painted Bunting…He Does Exist!

June 6, 2017 at Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary

The Painted Bunting really does exist!  I was amazed, and so excited yesterday to see my very first Painted Bunting!  After hunting for this particular bird at 4 different birding hotspots, I convinced myself that this beautiful, colorful bird did not exist.  He was a myth!  I placed him in the category with Unicorns.  I’ll just hear stories about them, but I’ll probably never see one.

Wrong!  A friend of mine told me she knew exactly where to find them.  Apparently, they hang out in the same spot year after year at Heard Museum.  Who knew?  So, I followed her along the Wood Duck Trail, and we were about 5 minutes into our hike when I found myself staring at that mythical creature, the Painted Bunting!  I was amazed!  He was as beautiful as all the pictures I’d seen.

And guess what?  We walked another 2 minutes down the trail and ran into a friend of the Painted Bunting’s, the Indigo Bunting!  Two birds I had been wanting to see for a while now all in a 10 minute time frame!  I was done!

I was ready to go home.  Wasn’t sure it would get any better than seeing my Painted Bunting that I had waited so long to see.

Surprisingly, the rest of the hike was just as much fun.  Lots of fun birds to see including the beautiful Prothonotary Warbler, some Great Blue Herons & Anhingas, tons of Northern Rough-winged Swallows, a couple of Hawks, and unfortunately, several creepy snakes!  What a day.

If you haven’t had the chance to visit the Heard, you should check it out.  You can read all about it in my article titled The Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary on Ballcapmom.com!  Until next time…

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  This sweet guy followed us up and down the boardwalk singing his little heart out!

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  Doesn't matter where I go to hike, there always seems to be at least one creepy snake!

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  I tried to get this Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk to reposition himself for a better photo, but this is all I got!