The beautiful bunting - feathered in blue, red and green - arrives to dine among the commonplace chickadees, house finches, wrens and goldfinches at Vicki Dixon's feeder. It's so dazzling that even bright red cardinals pale in comparison.

As its name implies, the painted bunting looks as though it were brushed from an artist's palette, perhaps to be a gaudy tropical caged bird from a rain forest far away. A red ring around each eye adds to its exotic look.

A little skittish, the bunting drops in from a wooded area across Dixon's lane in Knotts Island, N.C., and lurks awhile in a bush by the feeders before supping on black-oil sunflowers.

The painted bunting is rarely seen this far north, though it is a denizen of coastal North Carolina and southward, so maybe Knotts Island could be called part of its range. Occasionally, one or two will spend some of the winter in Virginia Beach.

The male was once coveted as a cage bird. It's population declined as a result. It is still captured in other countries, particularly Mexico, to be sold in the pet trade. In addition to its colors, the male adds to his value with a beautiful, sweet song.

The female is not seen up this way as often, but she may have been around and we just didn't know it.

She's more nondescript than her flashy mate. Still, the female is unusual looking, about the only bright all-green bird you'll see.

You could have a problem identifying a female, but never a male. Its colors are so brilliant that it sometimes is called a "nonpareil," French for "having no equal," as Dixon learned when she did some reading on her visitor.

A couple of weeks ago, Dixon heard that the bird was visiting a neighbor's feeder. Then she looked out of her door one day and saw the beauty at her feeder.

"I knew right away what it was," Dixon said. "It was the first one I had ever seen."

And she hopes it's not the last.