Painted Bunting, Passerina ciris

Painted Bunting, Passerina ciris ciris, Female and Males. Photograph taken at a backyard bird feeder within a residential community in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, October 2022. Photograph and identifications courtesy of Faith Hubsch, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Painted Bunting, Passerina ciris pallidior, Female. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, August 2015. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

Painted Bunting, Passerina ciris pallidior, Female. Photograph taken within the greater Alamos area, Sonora, October 2019. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

Painted Bunting, Passerina ciris pallidior, Male. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, July 2020. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

Painted Bunting, Passerina ciris ciris, Males. Photograph taken at a backyard bird feeder and bird bath within a residential community in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, October 2022 and February 2023. Photograph and identifications courtesy of Faith Hubsch, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The Painted Bunting, Passerina ciris ciris and Passerina ciris pallidior, are the two subspecies of Painted Bunting, and only the pallidior subspecies is found in Mexico. They are a member of the Cardinalidae Family of Cardinals and Allies, which has forty-nine members placed in fourteen genera, and one of seven global species of the Passerina Genus. They are known in Mexico as azulillo sietecos.

The Painted Bunting is small in stature and sexually dimorphic, with the males being slightly larger than the females. Mature males have a blue head and nape, a bronze-green back, a red rump and underparts, and red, contrasting with dark wings and tail, and are one of the most visually spectacular songbirds in North America. The females have cryptic green and yellow-green colors. The juvenile males and females resemble the adult females. Their bill and gape are dark brown to black, their iris is dark brown or hazel and their legs and feet are dark gray, dull brown or dusky brown.

In Mexico the Painted Bunting is found in partly open environments with scattered brush and trees, riparian thickets and brush and weedy and shrubby areas. They feed primarily on grass seeds supplemented by arthropods. They have life spans of up to twelve years. They have been poorly studied and very little has been documented about their biology and behavioral patterns.

The Painted Bunting is found throughout Mexico with the exception that they are absent from Baja California, Baja California Sur and northwest Sonora. The ciris subspecies is a resident of the eastern United States. The pallidior subspecies is a winter visitor to western Mexico and found south of Sinaloa on the Pacific Slope and south of southern Tamaulipas and central Veracruz on the Atlantic Slope, south to Guatemala at elevations below 2,000 m (6,600 feet). They make short to medium migrations to staging areas in Sonora and northern Sinaloa to undergo prebasic molt, and continue to migrate farther south to overwintering areas. They are absent from the central highlands.

From a conservation perspective the Painted Bunting is currently considered to be of Least Concern, with stable, widely-distributed populations. However, regional declines in their populations have been noted which is attributed to loss of breeding habitat by human development and loss of riparian areas utilized during molt-migrations. The males are easily trapped and Mexican birds are currently sold at a level of 6,000 birds per year, being exported to Europe. Their sale in the United States is banned. They are listed as a Species of Concern by the Norma Oficial Mexicana 059 para las Especies Amenazadas y en Peligro.