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© Cathie Coward,The Hamilton Spectator

Painted Bunting: Meet the tiny bird that has been the big talk of local birders for the past month.
In a backyard in Oakville, there's a tiny, colourful bird that's setting hearts aflutter.

A painted bunting, which usually makes its home in the Southern U.S. and Mexico, mysteriously appeared in the Lakeshore Road East and Winston Churchill Boulevard area before Christmas. The rare creature has created quite a stir, drawing birders from across Ontario and lots of speculation among those who love small things with wings.

Hamiltonian Bruce Mackenzie, an avid birder and retired conservation area manager, thinks the painted bunting is a wild bird that got blown off course by a storm.

Though it's rare to see the species this far north, it's not unheard of - one was spotted last November in northeastern New Brunswick.

"One of the things that makes me think the bird is from the wild is that it has the survival skills," Mackenzie said. "This bird has kept going. It has a lot of good instincts."

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Range of P. ciris

Breeding range in yellow. Wintering range in blue.