Managing Private and grass. Use prescribed burning For more information, please contact: Public Open Lands every four to five years to create U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Public and private land managers mixed patches of shrub and grass Savannah Coastal Refuges can provide habitat by maintaining cover. 1000 Business Center Drive A bird without equal— some grasses and shrubby growth, Parkway Business Center, Suite 10 such as those species seen among ■ Painted buntings, especially Savannah, GA 31405 will it survive? inland dunes and forests next to juveniles, find freshwater 912/652 4415 or 912/832 4608 salt marshes. wetlands important as feeding http://savannah.fws.gov/ areas. Try to restore or preserve Open-canopied these emergent freshwater U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Yes! We can forests can wetlands in areas within one Partners for Fish and Wildlife support kilometer of breeding habitat. 4270 Norwich Street successful painted Brunswick, GA 31520 make a difference. bunting ■ Other habitats such as mowed 912/265 9336, ext. 25 reproduction if dikes and shrubby or open forest http://southeast.fws.gov/partners/ ground cover is habitat can be important for greater than 50% painted buntings if freshwater U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grasses mixed emergent wetlands or salt Brunswick Ecological Services with large marshes are adjacent or less than 4270 Norwich Street J. Michael Meyers numbers of Open pine forest habitat with shrubs 1/2 mile away. Brunswick GA 31520 shrubs 3 to 18 and grasses should be maintained 912/265 9336 feet high. Open with prescribed fire at least every Conclusion http://athens.fws.gov/ canopied trees six years. Humans do not have to cut should provide no themselves off from beaches and More information on painted more than 75% cover. Under ideal barrier islands to help painted buntings can be found at: conditions, a breeding painted buntings. With a degree of http://georgiawildlife.dnr.state.ga.us bunting population of 100 to 200 consideration and planning, this http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov pairs needs 1,200 to 2,500 acres. little songbird considered by so many to be “without equal” may

In Short: survive quite well with its new Ivey

■ Conserve old growth maritime neighbors on Georgia’s coast. Ty forests and shrubby grasslands with scattered trees such as Text by Mike Hobbs and J. Michael Meyers found between the beach dunes closest to the ocean and those dunes located farther back from the ocean.

■ Do not use prescribed burning in beach dune habitats. Salt spray, drought and storms will keep habitat in early, open and shrubby successional stages. Also, protect the habitat from accidental forest fires.

■ Manage pine-oak forests for saw timber with basal area of 50 square feet per acre. Ground cover should be scattered scrubs 3 to 18 feet high with many open areas covered by Georgia’s coastal residents may colorful females tend Increased Predation and Thievery Can Something feel surprised, thrilled and even nests filled with three to As shrubs, ground cover and Be Done? fortunate when streaks of red, blue four glossy white eggs adjacent forest disappear, buntings Research shows and green flash through their covered in fine red spots. may relocate to thinner, less that appropriately backyards. These distinctive desirable habitat, providing fewer managing and displays in flight belong to a prized, Together, one male and hiding places to avoid predation preserving little songbird called the painted female pair can raise from rodents, owls, hawks, and habitat—shrubs, bunting. Homeowners and birders two, and sometimes climbing snakes. beach dunes and describe spotting its colorful three, clutches of eggs in the forested edges

plumage as awesome, dazzling and one season. By summer’s Two more recently arrived parasitic J. Michael Meyers of salt marsh— an unforgettable experience. end, a dozen or more species, the brown-headed cowbird Ideal shrub and grassland habitat for does mean higher offspring may join and its Caribbean cousin, the shiny nesting painted Buntings on Sapelo survival rates for Unfortunately, such encounters parents to fly south to cowbird have added Island’s Nanny Goat Beach. Only a painted buntings. may end as the painted bunting or winter in Cuba, south to the painted few trees are found in this habitat. In short, better Passerina ciris continues to Florida or the Bahamas. bunting’s troubles. habitat equals decline in numbers. From North If allowed, female better hiding places from prowling Carolina to Georgia, painted A second population cowbirds replace predators.

buntings living along the Atlantic J. Michael Meyers exists in the Midwest momentarily coast have declined in population An aerial view of optimum and possibly in Mexico, unattended eggs This means even developed or by three percent each year since nesting habitat for painted but the coastal group with their own eggs landscaped areas can be important the late 1960’s. That’s a decline of buntings along the Atlantic rarely intermixes with and then fly off to sources of food for nearby painted 50% in less than 20 years. shoreline of Sapelo Island, them and both never return. bunting nest sites. When planning Georgia populations appear to be for landscapes, do the following: Average number of painted buntings But with in serious trouble. Unsuspecting 3 on five-stop survey help from Suspected causes affecting the birds songbirds— ■ Try to retain or preserve homeowners include deteriorating habitat, a including painted freshwater wetlands. Emergent and land condition causing increased predation buntings—return wetlands combined with shrub

© Tom J. Ulrich © Tom managers, of parents and offspring, and habitat to hatch and feed or open-forest like settings are 2 the little bird losses for nesting. cowbird chicks, important habitat for painted described as reducing the buntings. nonpareil or Habitat Degradation numbers of their 1 “without Painted buntings prefer the shrubby own species to ■ Maintain shrub cover and native equal,” may forests found on Georgia’s barrier reach adulthood. grasses in your landscaping yet return to islands and coastal mainland. This Research shows plans. Some exotic grasses with its dazzling mixture of thick vegetation and open that this is not a large seeds such as bahia can be 0 glory. grassy areas provides ideal protected common problem in used by painted buntings. 1966-1968 1970-1975 1976-1982 1992-1995 Basically, cover for nests. Convenient, nearby good habitat in painted buntings need a little more food sources allow the nesting southeastern ■ Try not to mow natural grass understanding from human buntings to forage open areas, Atlantic coastal areas more than once per year, neighbors who are developing and searching the grasses, ground and states. preferably in mid-March. building on Georgia’s barrier shrubs for insects and seeds. J. Ulrich © Tom Grassland protects important Top to bottom: islands and beaches. Among scattered food sources. female and male painted buntings Unfortunately, human development trees and shrubby Breeding Habits and land management practices have vegetation, less ■ Maintain medium to large trees, Painted buntings are seed eating and continue to alter potential than 8% of bunting nests, or one in which are important for singing Neotropical migrants. During bunting nest sites. Stands of shrubby 25, may be affected by cowbird perches. One to two are needed spring and summer, the coast from wax myrtle and buckthorn near open- parasitism and even fewer cowbirds for every two to three acres North Carolina to Georgia rings canopied pines and hardwoods are survive—less than one cowbird in 36 (3/4 to 11/4 hectares). with difficult to hear, but musical, increasingly limited on Georgia’s painted bunting nests. finch-like songs. Males in vivid coast. Replacing native grasses and plumage mark territories with seeds with sod grass also denies these bursts of song, while less buntings important food sources.