Passerina cyanea
The Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea, is a small, vibrant passerine known for the brilliant, iridescent blue plumage of the breeding male. Measuring about 11.5-15 cm (4.5-6 in) in length with a wingspan of 20-23 cm (8-9 in) and weighing 11.5-19 g (0.4-0.7 oz), the male appears almost black in poor light but shimmers with an electric blue in bright sunlight due to structural coloration rather than pigment. Females are distinctly duller, a warm, streaky brown with a lightly streaked breast, a h...
Indigo Buntings prefer brushy, weedy, and open areas, often found in overgrown fields, forest edges, clearings, roadsides, and abandoned farmland, typically at lower to mid-elevations.
Their diet primarily consists of small insects and larvae during the breeding season, including caterpillars, grasshoppers, and beetles. In fall and winter, seeds from grasses and weeds, and small berries, become the dominant food source.
Indigo Buntings are diurnal during their breeding and wintering seasons, actively foraging and singing, but undertake their long-distance migrations nocturnally. Males fiercely defend breeding territories with persistent, high-pitched songs, often delivered from prominent perches, and aggressive ...
The breeding range of the Indigo Bunting spans eastern North America, from southern Canada (southeastern Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia) south through the eastern and central United States, reaching the Gulf Coast and northern Florida. During migration, they traverse vast corridors across the easter...
Least Concern
- The male Indigo Bunting's brilliant blue color is not due to pigment but to the microscopic structure of its feathers, which scatters blue light and absorbs other wavelengths. Without light, they appear black. - Indigo Buntings are one of the few species known to navigate using stars, particula...