1/6/2024 0 Comments Indigo bunting![]() Water is essential to all birds and providing a bird bath means they don’t have to travel great distances to find water. Do They Migrate?īuntings are predominantly migratory, arriving in Simcoe County in late Spring for their breeding season and returning to their wintering areas (southern Florida to northern South America) in the fall. They are a long-distance migrant, travelling about 1,200 miles (1931 kms) one way! Foods Females and juvenille indigo buntings are an overall brown (darker on top, with a paler brown underneath) with blue highlights. During non-breeding seasons, they may appear patchy blue and brown. During breeding season, males are a bright blue throughout, with a slightly deeper blue on their heads. They have a conical silver-grey bill and a short rounded tail. Indigo Buntings are a stocky, sparrow-sized bird. They're often spotted singing from telephone lines along rural roadways. Look for Indigo Buntings in areas where fields meet forests They especially love hedgerows, overgrown patches and brushy roadsides. While common and wide-spread in Simcoe County during the last spring and summer, they are often hard to spot due to their habits of perching very high in the trees where their blue colour is not as obvious, appearing almost black from below. Often referred to as "blue canaries" or "blue finches", the all-blue male Indigo Bunting sings its cheerful song (see video below to hear its song) from the tallest perch in sight, from dusk to dawn. Sunflower chips and millet, on the ground or in a feeder, are good seeds for attracting buntings during migration.Attracting Indigo Buntings to Your Backyard In the spring many of our customers have had them stop at their feeders. ![]() Indigo Buntings eat mostly insects, with seeds and fruit for variety. The up and down lively three or four paired notes can be heard loud and clear when you are in their habitat. The way to get a feel for how widespread these little blue birds are, is to learn their song. They are a classic bird of the forest edge and brushy clearings, both habitats are bountiful in Missouri. It is surprising to people when they learn how truly common Indigo Buntings are in our area. The young are ready to fledge in about ten days. Most nests will have three to four eggs that will hatch after 12 – 13 days. The nests are usually built in dense shrubs for protection from predators. The female Indigo chooses the site, builds the nest, broods the eggs and feeds the young by herself. ![]() Once copulation is over the male has very little to do with parental care giving. Her wings and tail have streaks of blue.ĭuring courtship, the male will sing in flight and will spread his wings and dance in circles around the female. The female is brown with a lighter brown breast. The Indigo Bunting is a small bird, 5.5 inches in length with an 8 inch wingspan, weighing in at 0.5 ounces. If you see the male in the shadows, he’s just a little black bird, but if you see him singing in the top of the tree in the sunshine, he’s a brilliant, metallic blue. Some birds just take your breath away! The Indigo Bunting ( Passerina cyanea ) is a bird that definitely takes my breath away.
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