Current Range of the Eastern Population of Painted Bunting (<i>passerina Ciris</i>) Part 1: Breeding

This paper presents the current breeding range of Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) in a series of maps and a narrative, in particular that of the eastern population, which is restricted to the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.Some conservation measures are recommended to protect this population.In light of the exten-sive habitat loss in the Outer Coastal Plain of these states, which comprise the areas of the populations greatest densuy, tt is tmperatwe that a consortium of diverse interests work together to provide sufficient habitats for this colorful native songbird.OVERVIEW The breeding range of Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) in the eastern United States is restricted to a small portion of the Atlantic Coastal Plain of four southeastern states.Partners in Flight (P1F) originally listed the bunting as a highly ranked Species at Risk (4.29/5.00) in need of attention in a physiographic region of high importance (Hunter et al. 1993a, 1993b).More recently, PIF revised and expanded its classification system and published it in the North American Consetration Plan (Rich et al. 2004), placing the Painted Bunting in the Species of Continental Importance for the United States and Canada: Watch List Species--Restricted distribution or low population size.Two subspecies, P c. ciris and P c. pallidior, have been described based upon morphological variation.However, these two subspecies are only weakly differentiated (Storer 1951).Plumages and morphometrics show much overlap and are minor, clinal, and not distinctive enough to warrant nomenclatural distinctions (Thompson 1991a, Lowther et al. 1999).A further biological concern is that the two subspecies as currently described do not coincide with the 550-km (341-mi) gap centered on 85 W longitude that currently separates the eastern and western breeding populations (Figure 1).Given the current state of knowledge, it seems more accurate to treat the eastern and western populations rather than the eastern and western subspecies.From what is presently known, the eastern and western populations are allopatric on the breeding grounds as well as the wintering grounds.These two breeding populations differ dramatically in timing and pattern of molt, timing of migration, and in several morphological characteristics, thus suggesting differences at the species level (Thompson 1991a, 1991b).Based upon the work of Thompson (1991a, 1991b), Sibley and Monroe (1993) recognized the eastern and western populations as separate species: Eastern Painted-Bunting (Passerma ciris) and Western Painted-Bunting (P.pallidiot).The Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union has not yet made a decision on such a split.To clarify if such a split is warranted, a study of genetic divergence of the eastern and western populations of the Painted Bunting is currently underway by J. T. Klicka, C. W. Thompson, and Sykes; mitochondrial and nucleolar DNA are being examined from materials from the breeding and wintering ranges of the two populations.Since the taxonomic question of a split has not yet been resolved, we simply refer to the eastern birds as the eastern population.This eastern breeding population of Painted Bunnng is found along the Atlantic coast from southeastern North Carolina to northeastern Florida and extends inland in South Carolina and Georgia (Figures 1 and 2).The recent literature gives the breeding range of the eastern population of Painted Bunting in relatively general terms (Stokes

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