Rainbow-colored bird draws bird watchers to Vermont town

Rainbow-colored bird draws bird watchers to Vermont town

Lisa Rathke, Associated Press

Updated 7:48 pm, Wednesday, March 23, 2016


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Photo: Kent P. McFarland, AP

In this March 18, 2016 photo provided by the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, a rare painted bunting sits on a fence in Pittsfield, Vt. The bird, sometimes described as a "flying rainbow," normally does not fly north of the Carolinas on the East Coast. It's the sixth time a painted bunting sighting has been recorded in Vermont. (Vermont Center for Ecostudies via AP
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MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Bird watchers have flocked to a small town in Vermont hoping to catch a glimpse of the painted bunting, a rare bird described as a "flying rainbow" that normally doesn't fly north of the Carolinas on the East Coast.

It's the sixth time since 1993 a painted bunting has been recorded in Vermont, said Kent McFarland, a conservation biologist with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, who photographed the colorful bird on Friday.

"It's a flying rainbow. It's a really bright bird," he said of the tennis ball-sized bird that has appeared in a yard and at a feeder in Pittsfield.

McFarland said the painted bunting really sticks out in Vermont's early spring brown landscape.

More:
http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Rainbow-colored-bird-draws-bird-watchers-to-6988790.php

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Male and green female painted buntings. [/center]