INDIGO BUNTING GALLERY
(Passerina cyanea)

eBird offers the following description of the Indigo Bunting:  Breeding males are entirely blue; can look dark from a distance. Females are plain buffy brown with whitish throat, bluish tail, and faint streaks on the underparts. Inhabits the edges of forests and fields. Listen for loud song, paired or tripled notes, delivered from the top of the tallest tree in the area. Occasionally visits feeders. Winters in Central America.

I have seen Indigo Buntings on three occasions.  The first one I saw was at South Llano State Park in April of 2018.   I saw several Indigo Buntings at Warbler Woods Sanctuary on April 23, 2020, mixed in with some Painted Buntings.  I also saw Indigo Buntings (males and females) in an open field at Sabine Woods Sanctuary on April 27, 2020.

Around 10:00 a.m. on the morning of April 16, 2021. I was delighted to spot a solitary Indigo Bunting visiting my back yard.  He didn’t visit the feeder or bird bath, but checked things out from several different perches.  He stayed about 10 minutes and I good some good looks at him.  My photos are a little subpar because there was a light rain and the skies were very overcast.  Below find some photos from those sightings.  I hope you enjoy them!

Indigo Bunting at South Llano River S. P., April 22, 2018.
Indigo Bunting seen at the Acorn Blind on August 22, 2018, South Llano River State Park.
Indigo Bunting seen April 23, 2020, at the Old Barn Blind, Warbler Woods Sanctuary.
Indigo Bunting with Painted Bunting at Old Barn Blind, Warbler Woods, August 23, 2020.
Indigo Bunting in open field habitat at Sabine Woods Sanctuary, August 27, 2020.
Female Indigo Bunting in open field habitat at Sabine Woods Sanctuary, August 27, 2020.
Immature/nonbreeding Indigo Bunting at Sabine Woods, August 27, 2020.
Indigo Bunting that visited my back yard on the morning of April 16, 2021.
Indigo Bunting that visited my back yard on the morning of April 16, 2021.

Indigo Bunting “Cool Facts” From All About Birds…

  • Indigo Buntings migrate at night, using the stars for guidance. Researchers demonstrated this process in the late 1960s by studying captive Indigo Buntings in a planetarium and then under the natural night sky. The birds possess an internal clock that enables them to continually adjust their angle of orientation to a star—even as that star moves through the night sky.
  • Indigo Buntings learn their songs as youngsters, from nearby males but not from their fathers. Buntings a few hundred yards apart generally sing different songs, while those in the same “song neighborhood” share nearly identical songs. A local song may persist up to 20 years, gradually changing as new singers add novel variations.
  • Like all other blue birds, Indigo Buntings lack blue pigment. Their jewel-like color comes instead from microscopic structures in the feathers that refract and reflect blue light, much like the airborne particles that cause the sky to look blue.
  • Bunting plumage does contain the pigment melanin, whose dull brown-black hue you can see if you hold a blue feather up so the light comes from behind it, instead of toward it.
  • Indigo and Lazuli buntings defend territories against each other in the western Great Plains where they occur together, share songs, and sometimes interbreed.
  • The oldest recorded wild Indigo Bunting was a male, and at least 13 years, 3 months old when he was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Ohio.