Laura Erickson's For the Birds

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Space Coast Birding Festival

Painted BuntingI'm in Titusville, Florida, for the Space Coast Birding Festival. Every day I'll post one photo. I took this one yesterday on the porch of the visitors center at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. They have a sign saying if you want to see one, take three steps back and keep watching. (They maintain several feeders there.) This one came in within just a minute or two.

Painted Buntings are becoming ever more common feeder birds in Florida in winter. They used to be more common like this, but declined dramatically for a while, so this is one bright spot in the world of conservation.