The female bunting also carefully lines the inside of the nest with fine grasses and other plant material, thistle down, and even thin hair from animals. Built scarcely three feet from the ground in the crotch of branches, the small, cup-like nest is usually wrapped with spider webs. Nests are constructed in a little more than a week - again by only the female - with materials that include grasses, leaves, bark, and plant stems. She alone chooses a nest site, which is normally within shrub thickets along field edges, adjacent to woodlands, and even rights-of-ways of roads and railroads. Few other birds sing as much.įollowing brief courtships and mating, and while male indigo buntings remain busy singing and defending their breeding territories, female indigos commence to nest-building and laying eggs. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology website writes that as many as 200 songs per hour at sunrise and about one song per minute for the remainder of the day is typical of singing males. Male indigo buntings are tireless songsters. Their song is oft written as “what! what! where? where? see it! see it!”, which is an easy mnemonic to use in identifying the delightful song when afield.Īnd at the height of the breeding season, when male birds are busy establishing and defending breeding territories, you can rest assured that one song will be followed by another song again and again.
#Blue buntings series#
The song of the male indigo bunting is a lovely series of sharp, high-pitched, and very clear whistles.
Preferred indigo bunting habitat is dense thickets, tall trees near forest edges, open brushy fields, farm country, wooded roadways, and forest openings. Most, however, migrate to the northland every spring to breed, nest and raise their young. The plumage coloration of the blue jay is similarly perceived by our eyes.įound throughout the eastern half of the United States and southern Canada during the breeding season, indigo buntings migrate as far south as northern South America for the winter months, but some birds will occasionally spend the entire year in southern Florida. It seems that the indigo bunting is actually black in color for it’s the light, or rather the diffraction of light through an indigo bunting’s feathers, that makes them appear blue. Interestingly, the brilliant blue feathers of the species that we see are not blue after all. A sparrow-sized bird at just five or so inches long, if it wasn’t for the male indigo bunting’s song and stunning blue color, the species would probably go relatively unnoticed. Their conical beaks are perfect for feeding on insects and seeds alike. Sometimes confused with eastern bluebirds and blue grosbeaks, the all-blue males, sometimes sporting blackish wings, are understandably very striking birds.
Such a beautiful species of wild bird - the indigo bunting - few people would disagree.
So recently when walking near my backyard bird-feeding station, the lone, male indigo bunting perched on the birdfeeder caused me to stop in my tracks and watch. Indeed, that yours truly has trouble distinguishing colors and shades of colors, notably red and variations of red, is one of the reasons why blue became a favorite color of mine long ago (and also why coloring wasn’t a favorite activity of mine in grade school).įor me the colors blue and yellow really stand out. Imagine being a birder who’s red-green colorblind.
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