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Posted by Roger Hammer on 09:25:47 11/07/11
I spent the last hour focusing my camera on the flowers of a red firespike (Odontonema cuspidatum) in my yard waiting on hummingbirds to visit them. While waiting I kept seeing painted buntings flying in and out of the shrub from a nearby feeder. Finally I got a good view of both a male and female bunting in the firespike and watched them both pick flowers off and squeeze the base of the blossom inside their mouth with their beak. They were undoubtedly eating the nectar from the flowers, and they each picked a dozen or so flowers while I was watching them. First time I've ever noticed buntings eating nectar.
There are at least a couple of dozen painted buntings around our feeders every day if anyone is interested in seeing them. Okay, gotta get back out there and wait for those stupid hummingbirds.
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