Whats a “Green bird”? Are these female Painted Buntings?
Yes and No! Yes, female Painted Buntings are mostly green and not multicolored as the adult males are. However, males do not acquire this multicolored plumage until the end of their second year. Here’s the cycle, fledglings leaving the nest will be an olive drab to brown color. They then molt quickly and change to a “green bird”, like a female. During this time it is impossible to distinguish visually a female Painted Bunting from a young male unless you capture one and look for sex characteristics other than feather color differences. In other words, a green bird at a feeder might be either a female or a young male!! That is why we refer to our green Painted Buntings as “Green birds”. To complete the cycle, the young males who were born last year, migrated south as a Green birds. They will return to their U.S. breeding grounds still as a Green birds, and they will start to molt into their adult plumage near the end of the breeding season (late August/September).
