Imhof (1976) noted two breeding records for Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) in Alabama, both in Mobile Co. Jackson (2001) considered the species a “local breeder” on the Gulf Coast, primarily in the northwest comer of Mobile Bay, but also locally in extreme southwest Alabama with summer records and possible breeding near Jackson. At Gulf State Park, there are records of a territorial male in 1986 and 1987 at the same site (Jackson pers. comm.). Nevertheless, most literature indicates that Painted Buntings do not regularly breed in Alabama. Further, the eastern population of Painted Buntings along the coasts of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina is well separated from the western population that extends only as far east as the western half of Mississippi (Lowther et al. 1999). Regional bird books for Mississippi and Georgia show a similar gap between the eastern and western populations (Burleigh 1958, Turcotte and Watts 1999). However, data collected during Georgia’s recent Breeding Bird Atlas project, include records from Thomas and Cook counties in southwestern Georgia and a pair in Randolph Co. near the Alabama border (Schneider pers. comm.).
Author: Larry F. Gardella and Shawn Reed
Volume Number: 48 Year Published: 2002
Issue Number: 2
Page Number: 38
Link to article: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/2002/Vol. 48 No 2 2002_p38-40.pdf
Link to the full issue of BirdLife: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/2002/Vol. 48 No 2 2002.pdf
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