Painted Buntings are Back to Welcome Hurricane Ian

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I was surprised today to see my first-of-fall male and female Painted Buntings in the backyard. They typically arrive within the first two weeks of October, so they are running a little early this year. Welcome back friends!

Painted Bunting
Painted Buntings – an “oldie but goodie” image of mine from my first year of observing Painted Buntings

Our buntings arrive just as finalize preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Ian. I’m leaving out the bird feeders as long as I can!

Here’s the “before” picture of the backyard. The eye is projected to pass overhead as the storm slowly moves through and dumps up to 2 feet of water on the backyard.

We’ll see you from the other side!

Before-Ian
Backyard Before Ian

3 thoughts on “Painted Buntings are Back to Welcome Hurricane Ian

    1. Are you seeing early migrants this year too, Wally?

      We had minimal damage from the storm. We were so lucky! Glad to hear that you’re good too. I hear that raking leaves is a good excuse to be outside to listen for fall migrants ;-)

      1. We encountered a flock of 50+ Palm Warblers in one field a couple of weeks ago. Most I’ve seen together. Haven’t been out as much as I would like to search for birdies. Soon!
        Yeah, I have found that raking leaves is not a good excuse for anything. Sure is time consuming, though!
        Sounds like you dodged Ian somewhat. Good riddance to him!

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