Indigo bunting male and female1/14/2024 ![]() ![]() Indigo bunting mature males are totally blue, unlike bluebirds which have an orange chest. It’s easy to confuse those two birds, because they are both a very eye catching shade of blue (in the case of the males) and the females look pretty similar. What Is the Difference Between a Bluebird and an Indigo Bunting? ![]() Each indigo bunting has a different song. Look up, they often sing from telephone lines and tall places with a bouncy, happy cadence. ![]() The first step to figure out how to attract indigo buntings to your backyard is learning how to tell them apart from other birds to avoid scaring them away by accident. This means many people confuse them with blackbirds and other darker birds of similar sizes, and even shoo them away from the bird feeders. The plumage of indigo buntings is very special: It looks bright blue in the light but it goes nearly black in the shade, allowing them to hide very easily in bushes and branches to avoid predators. Despite their bright color, they are not easy to spot! You may have indigo buntings in your backyard already… but you aren’t seeing them. Females and younglings are much more muted in color and have no blue (or just a bit in the case of young males). The male of the species is the one which has the blue plumage and song that makes them popular. They are often just very good at camouflaging! They belong to the same family as cardinals and share some commonalities with that type of birds, including their singing abilities. Many people think indigo buntings are quite rare, but that’s not the case. Pin It For Later! Are Indigo Buntings Rare? This is what creates local and regional songs that evolve over the years, and makes it a bit tricky to identify indigo buntings by song alone. They however don’t learn their song from their fathers, only unrelated males. Their song, upbeat and just plain happy, differs by region and delights bird lovers everywhere.Ī funny fact about indigo buntings is that they learn their song from other males… and improve and create their own versions like a little artist. Their bright blue plumage shines in the light in unexpected flashes of blue among the trees and near the feeders, and it’s always a joy to see. An author writing about Indigo Buntings notes, “(T)heir colorful appearance and cheerful songs are good reasons to fallow old fields and to spare (not spray) herbicides along railways and roads.Wondering how to attract Indigo Buntings to your backyard? It’s not surprising a lot of people love the idea of seeing this slice of the sky, as this bird is popularly known, in their gardens. ![]() The shift from eating primarily vegetation to insects is common in the bird world as “bugs” provide the concentrated calories necessary for the rigors of breeding and upcoming fall migration. In breeding season, Indigo Buntings feed on calorie-rich insects, spiders, and other bugs, as well as the grasses and herbs on which they feed year-round. They can be found almost anywhere except far into the woods at Tyler. They build their nest in the crotch of branching low shrubs and herbs, usually no more than three feet off the ground. Indigo Buntings live among the shrubs and tall grasses of weedy areas. They sing from the early morning into the mid-day hours, which is past the time when many other birds have become quiet. They repeatedly sing for several minutes at a time from each perch, moving from one perch to another within their territory. Males sing well into the summer until their second brood is out of the nest. Alas, male Indigo Buntings molt to a brown color in the fall, similar to that of females and juveniles, because the new feathers have a different microstructure that absorbs, rather than reflects, blue light. It is the same principle that makes our sky blue. The unabsorbed blue is reflected in the observer’s eyes. The microstructure of the feathers that a male Indigo Bunting sports in breeding season allow the feathers to absorb all but blue light. Their feathers contain only melanin, which is a brown/black pigment. Surprisingly, like all bird species that show blue, the striking color of an adult male Indigo Bunting does not come from blue pigment. Adult females may show a little blue on their shoulders, rump, and tail. Females and juvenile birds are brown a light attractive brown to my eye. Males show a variable amount of dark brown in their tails and wings. An adult male Indigo Bunting is almost entirely deep cobalt blue, a sight to behold, especially when seen in full sun. ![]()
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