It has been a while since I posted with the new house and all.  But on 5/15/2014 I saw one of the coolest things I'll probably ever say.  A pair of beautiful painted buntings right in my back yard!!  I do hope they continue to come back.  I've been looking out for them ever since, but I may not be lucky enough to see that again.

Image from: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/PHOTO/LARGE/painted_bunting_cleber2.jpg

The female bunting is a beautiful green and the male sports the vivid blue, green, yellow, and red you see in the above picture.  They are smaller birds (finches) and when they are scrounging around on the ground are very hard to spot.  I nearly missed them myself.  They breed in the southeast.  They favor dense brush and weedy areas, that's why I was so very excited to see one in the backyard!  They hung around on the ground mostly and didn't even visit any of my feeders.  It was a beautiful sight!