23 May 1986
The PAINTED BUNTING is a rare fall vagrant to California, mostly in the south. There are a few spring overshoots as well but winter occurrences are questionable since escapes from captivity occur with some frequency.
All of my California records are listed below. Those preceded by H were found or co-found by me personally; those preceded by K receive some partial credit (e.g., I was involved in sorting out i.d. of a previously discovered bird or refound a vagrant that had been thought to have left). As with many eastern vagrants, many more were seen during active rarity chasing throughout the state in younger days, and a higher percentage of records are from my local county (MTY) in recent years.
These are my personal Painted Bunting records:
9/21/74 Tijuana R. valley SD imm femSee the family page for county abbreviations. All photos & text © 2001 Don Roberson; all rights reserved.
11/28/76 Scottys Castle IMP imm male description in my notes
9/13/82 Pt. Loma SD juv
5/23/86 nr Oasis MNO male, possibly 2nd summer? Photo above; it had just bathed & is still wet
11/10/95 Santa Cruz SCZ female at Sheri Howe’s feeder; typed description
K 9/2/00 Big Sur R. mouth MTY juv in headlands patch
It had bright shiny band on right leg as it had been banded by BSLO five days before for the 3rd MTY rec.; typed description & sketch. In-hand photos of the banded bird are on my Monterey Co. highlights 2000 page