Indigo Bunting

Welcome to this week’s Wildlife of the Week!

Our species this week is the Indigo Bunting!

Passerina cyanea

This week’s colorful Wildlife of the Week is the Indigo Bunting. This small, sparrow-sized bird is a brilliantly colored bird, breeding males are a rich blue all over, with slightly brighter blue on his head. Females are brown with faint streaking on the breast and sometimes a touch of blue on the wings, tail, or rump.

Look for Indigo Buntings in weedy and brushy areas, especially where fields meet forests. They love edges, hedgerows, overgrown patches, and brushy roadsides. When not singing from the tallest perches in the area, they can often be seen foraging among seed-laden shrubs and grasses. This species eats insects, seeds. While perching, they often flag their tails from side to side. Fairly solitary during breeding season, Indigo Buntings form large flocks during migration and on their wintering grounds.

The photo was taken along Truck Trail Road. Other good places to see Indigo Buntings on the refuge are White Springs, Buckeye Impoundment and the fields around the Visitor Center.

(Photo by Tom Ress)