Tag: Male Painted Bunting

How Nancy Got Her Painted Bunting Pictures

We’ve mentioned how skittish the painted buntings areblog; they make really lousy models.  We have two photographs in our collection (Painted Bunting Pair that Nancy took in late March of 2010 and Male Painted Bunting that she took early April of that year). To get those pictures, Nancy had to set up a bird blind next to our feeder and wait.   To make the blind, she set up our 8-foot stepladder about eight feet from the feeder and covered it completely with palm fronds.   Early every morning she would crawl under the ladder, make a hole for her lens, and stand there for about two hours. It took her seven days of this to get the shots she was happy with.

To see the Note click here.To hide the Note click here.
So where was I during all of this? As technical support, I take pride in being able to say (truthfully) that I was right beside her when Nancy took every picture in our collection. These two pictures were the exception. Most likely I was in bed when these images were captured – I didn’t want to scare the birds.   And while Nancy got up very early to be with the painted buntings during their busy breakfast time, my breakfast was delayed.   I don’t want a medal or anything, but it is important that our viewers be aware of the sacrifices that I regularly have to make for the team.  ðŸ˜‰

By the way, we saw our first painted buntings of the season this week. First, we saw a female, as is typical for us, and then the male showed up a couple of days later.