Passerina cyanea
male
The Indigo Bunting is a familiar little songbird, and the eastern counterpart of the Lazuli Bunting. The sexes are dissimilar. Summer adult males are blue, darkest on the head and grayest on the wings. The conical bill is pale gray. In winter adult males, the plumage colors are masked by brown feather margins; these wear away by spring to reveal blue plumage. Adult females are brown, darker above than below, with faint streaking on the underparts and two indistinct wingbars. Juveniles are similar to an adult female; by their first spring, immature males have acquired some blue feathers but look very blotchy overall.
The Indigo Bunting is present as a breeding species across the eastern half of North America mainly from May to September. It spends the rest of the year in Central America and the Caribbean region, with small numbers wintering in southern Florida. Perched birds often twitch their tail in an agitated manner. Outside the breeding season it forms flocks.
female
FACT FILE
LENGTH 5.5 in (14 cm)
FOOD Mainly seeds, with invertebrates in spring and summer
HABITAT Scrub, deciduous woodland, and overgrown fields
STATUS Widespread and common summer visitor
VOICE Song is a series of whistling chirps that ends in a trill. Call is a sharp stik
