Painted Bunting

Is this not the most beautiful bird? It is a male Painted Bunting. I first caught a glimpse of this charming little finch last week and again yesterday afternoon, but both times I was either unable to get outside or I didn't have my camera with me.

Today I was prepared. While Gavin took a nice long afternoon nap, I sat on the swing in the backyard near the bird feeder, and with a good book, a delightful mug of vanilla bean coffee and my camera, I waited.

I did not have the best angle for fully capturing the beauty of this most colorful bird after he perched on the opposite side of the feeder from where I was sitting, but I knew that if I moved at all, he would indeed fly away.

I snapped as many photographs as I could before vultures flying overhead frightened the painted bunting deep into the thickets at the edge of the creek. I had a very difficult time discarding any of the dozens and dozens of photos I took. A slide show of 39 of them can be seen by clicking on the picture below.

I remember listening to Beth Moore share about a time she asked God that if it pleased Him, would He bring a moose to the cabin where she was staying in the Rocky Mountains, and the next morning she woke up to moose outside her door. No other cabins had moose, just hers. I don't believe for one minute that God passes out favors simply because we ask, nor do I make it a habit of asking for simple pleasures - for they are usually all around me - but it has been my experience that on many occasions when I have asked God for a glimpse of His glory in creation that I might capture it to share with others, He has answered that prayer in ways that often astound me.

Today was one of those occasions. When the painted bunting flew over my shoulder and landed on the feeder, I whispered another quick prayer that the noise of turning on my camera would not frighten this shy little bird away, and it didn't.

Seeing and photographing this exquisite bird was truly a gift.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." ~ James 1:17