Become a Painted Bunting Observer

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PBOT, or Painted Bunting Observation Team, is a team of citizen scientists who are working to observe, record and catalogue sightings of Painted Buntings. The team is helping develop strategies to sustain the Eastern Painted Bunting population throughout the Carolinas and Florida.

The Painted Bunting is a neotropical migratory songbird that breeds in two distinct populations, one in the southeastern United States, including North Carolina, and the other in the Midwest. Painted buntings winter in Cuba, Mexico, and Central America. One of North America's showiest birds, the males are unmistakable with blue, red, green, and yellow plumage.

Unfortunately, Painted Bunting populations are declining. The eastern population of Painted Buntings breeds in a restricted range within the Atlantic Coastal Plain, from North and South Carolina to Georgia and Florida. Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) Data collected since 1966 show a 3.2% decline per year for Painted Buntings in the southeast region. The Painted Bunting's decline may be due to a variety of factors, principally increased coastal development and new agricultural practices, both of which tend to clear shrub-scrub brush that is vital to breeding Painted Buntings that use early-successional habitats.

The main goal for the citizen science effort focuses on developing strategies for sustaining eastern Painted Bunting populations, with volunteers playing a major role in monitoring and collecting data in the field to meet that goal – and to help with Painted Bunting species conservation.

Visit the PBOT website to find out how you can become part of the team.