Date: 7/26/25 7:28 am From: Harry LeGrand (via carolinabirds Mailing List) <carolinabirds...> Subject: The Raleigh Painted Bunting on the front page of the News & Observer today
As folks know, the adult male Painted Bunting that has appeared in spring-summer 2022, 2023, and 2024 at Dix Park in Raleigh, made a very brief appearance in spring 2025 and then seemingly died or left the region. But a handful of days ago, he "re-appeared" and has been seen and heard repeatedly now. However, as locals know, the City of Raleigh cut down most of the nasty exotic Bradford Pears that lined the south side of the gravel sunflower field parking lot this spring, as understandably the Dix Park master plan calls for elimination of exotic plants where feasible/possible. Sadly, that forced the bunting and a few other species to disappear, and apparently the bunting moved far up the hill -- which was also cleared of woody vegetation. The south side of the hill is still a dense and thick forested place, and this is where he has been found most recently, though some lucky birders have seen him back down in the flats at the huge brush pile, where it is often easy to spot and photograph. Sadly, he has never seemed to attract a female, but that has not stopped him. Where he goes in fall and winter is conjecture, but possibly he heads to a local feeder. Yes, there are a few Indigo Buntings around, and the clearings did not seem to affect them much.
Her is a long link to the story, with several local birders quoted -- it might not work for some of you, as these very long links are tricky to deal with on phones, for example: