Painted Bunting is regarded as a "species of concern" in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Migratory Bird Program Strategic Plan 2004-2014, and as a Watch List Species by Partners in Flight (Rich et al. 2004). Across the United States breeding range of Painted Bunting, Breeding Bird Survey results show a long-term (1966-2003) decline at an average rate of -1.6 %/year (Sauer et al. 2007). The reasons for this decline have not been identified, and could include factors affecting Painted Buntings both on the breeding grounds, or in areas where buntings occur in winter or on migration. Among the latter factors is the potential effect of commercial trapping, which is illegal in the United States but which is common in Mexico and in Cuba.

The long-term decline of -1.6 %/year, while worrisome, masks some interesting counter-trends. There was a significant decline of -2.8 %/year, across the range of Painted Bunting, between 1966 and 1979; but the general trend, across the United States range of the species, is of stabilization or slight increases between 1980 and 2005. Statistically significant declines are evident in Breeding Bird Survey data from the South Texas Brushlands and East Texas Prairies physiographic strata, which contribute to an overall pattern of decline across Texas. At the same time, the Breeding Bird Survey data also show statistically significant increases for the Rolling Red Plains physiographic stratum, which is centered on north central Texas and western Oklahoma, and for the state of Oklahoma. The Breeding Bird Surveys do not show statistically significant population trends for the eastern population of Painted Bunting; but Breeding Bird Surveys probably do not adequately sample the coastal habitats where eastern Painted Buntings breed in the greatest densities, and so these surveys may not be very sensitive to population trends in this critical region (Sykes and Holzman 2005). In any case, the eastern population remains of great concern because of its geographically restricted breeding area, which is, at most, only 4% of the size of the breeding area occupied by the western population (Sykes and Holzman 2005). Furthermore, eastern Painted Buntings often are most abundant in areas close to the coast, where natural habitats often are lost to development as human population increases in the region. An encouraging note is that (approximately) 13.5% of the total breeding range of the eastern Painted Bunting is made up of public lands. These public lands could provide a critically important refuge for buntings (Sykes and Holzman 2005).

Male Painted Buntings for sale in a street

market in Latin America

The great beauty of the adult male Painted Bunting has attracted commercial attention for a very long time. Audubon described a trade in caged buntings, with thousands of caged birds being shipped to Europe for sale in the early 19^th century. Such trade has been banned in the United States since the early 20^th century, but continues to be legal in other countries. Preliminary estimates are that at least 100,000 Painted Buntings were trapped in Mexico between 1984 and 2000 (a mean annual capture rate of 5880 buntings/year). International trade in wild-caught cage birds was banned in Mexico from 1982 to 1999, but the international trade in Painted Buntings resumed quickly after this ban was lifted; for example, about 6000 birds per year were exported from Mexico to Europe in 2000 and 2001 (Iñigo-Elias et al. 2002). Similarly, there is commercial trade in Painted Buntings in Cuba, where caged birds are sold on domestic markets (Sykes et al. 2007).