Hi PBOT Friends! Dr. Jamie Rotenberg here, filling in for our PBOT Coordinator!  In this update: Read more »

Some of you may have been wondering “why has Leah left her holiday blog up for this long??” Well, 2013 been a bit of a difficult year so far… Most importantly, I have been incredibly reluctant to report a tragic event in PBOT’s life: our dearly beloved friend Debra C. passed away relatively suddenly in January. Read more »

‘Twas shortly before the New Year when all through the halls of UNCW, not a student was stirring, except those poor, bleary-eyed grad students of course. The field gear was hung in the closet with care, in hopes that the next banding season soon would be here. The banding data was nestled all snug in the filing cabinet (and reported to the Bird Banding Lab), while visions of long-term trends and statistics dance in our heads….. Phew! I’m glad I got that out my system! Read more »

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted a blog!  I’ve had some ill health over the last month that kept me from everything but the basics.  I really appreciate everyone keeping up the conversation by commenting on the blog, and I urge you to check the most recent comments on the last blog – for example, our friend in south Florida has an important question I’d like you all to weigh in on.  In fact, there has been quite a bit of conversation about seed… I know white millet is getting more expensive and harder to find, so if you have any advice for PBOTers, please chime in! Read more »

It is definitely migration time… I am receiving only a small handful of sightings every day – our buntings are off the radar, so they must be on the move!  I join our Carolina friends in bidding a fond farewell and wishing safe travels to our feathered friends.  I am happy to report that many of our Florida friends are already prepared for their arrival with clean feeders full of white millet, and some have already reported sightings of males. Read more »

I am excited to get back out in the field to band our beautiful buntings!  My colleague Brian and I are banding on Bald Head Island (NC) next week.  PBOT maintains nearly 70 banding sites throughout North and South Carolina – seven of which are on Bald Head Island, an ideal oasis for Painted Buntings with its protected maritime forest, open marshes, and ample shrub-scrub thickets.  This is the last banding session of this year’s breeding season (we visit each site three times each spring/summer), and we expect to se Read more »

The first fledglings of the season are filling the shrub-scrub of the Carolinas with the hustle-bustle of summer school. You may occasionally see fledglings on the feeder in their drab olive-green plumage, but for the most part they are busy learning how to identify and collect wild food (mostly insects at this time) with their parents – and this task often falls to the male, while the female sets to work constructing a new nest. Read more »

Our own Dr. Jamie Rotenberg will be hosting a workshop on Painted Buntings and PBOT this Saturday, April 21st, 9:15-10:30am, in Wilmington, NC.  This free public workshop will be held at Temptations Everyday Gourmet in Wilmington (just six doors down from the workshop's sponsor, Wild Bird and Garden, 3501 Oleander Drive, in the New Hanover Center across from Independence Mall). Read more »

Happy Spring to all Painted Bunting fans!  Twice a year, I am filled with mixed emotions – once in the late fall and once in the spring – as I join half our volunteers in rejoicing and the other half in mourning… yes, it’s migration time again!  Those of you in their winter habitat should be noticing a lot of activity on the feeder (if you still have buntings to observe!), as they fatten up in anticipation of their long flight northward. Read more »

This is one of my favorite times on the Painted Bunting calendar – when Painted Bunting fans stumble upon our website during the long, idle hours of winter.  Each day I notice a new name, or a new story, among the sightings reports.  Welcome to all of you!  I have finally regained the ability to type (after my long recovery from an arm injury) and I am happy to be getting back in touch with everyone – slowly, but surely! Read more »