The birds have begun to show up along the coast, though not in great numbers yet, said Jane Griess at the ACE Basin. George Smith of West Columbia can t get enough of them. He makes the pilgrimage to Pinckney Island Wildlife Refuge, near Hilton Head Island, as often as possible during the birds mating season, which runs through July. The birds stay through the summer but are most active during mating season. The little bird looks like he flew into a Sherwin-Williams paint store and all of the colors spilled on him, Smith said.
People see it and think somebody s canary got loose.
The Midlands represents the northern limit for the painted bunting, said Jim Kelly, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited. People who live along the Congaree and the Saluda rivers occasionally report seeing them. Kelly said a birder from Columbus, Ohio, called him recently to talk about taking a trip to Edisto Beach to look for painted buntings. He said he had seen the females but never had seen a male, Kelly said. The male painted bunting has brilliant blue-violet, red, yellow and green plumage.