Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Brilliant Blue Indigo Bunting

By: Tom Berg

Have you ever seen a bright blue bird? Well, yes, there are blue jays which are mostly blue, and there are eastern bluebirds that are also mostly blue. But we mean a blue bird that is such a bright blue color that it looks almost neon-blue in the sunlight! That bird is the male Indigo Bunting.

Indigo buntings are relatively small birds, about the size of a sparrow, and they are incredibly beautiful. Males are bright blue, while females are a duller brown color. The males are blue from head to tail, and the brilliant blue color is even more pronounced on their heads. They are called “blue canaries” by some people. They have a thick beak that is usually a two-toned silver/black color.

Indigo buntings breed throughout just about all of the eastern United States, which means you might be able to attract them to your yard by offering the types of seeds they like in your bird feeders. They prefer niger (thistle) seed, but they will also eat black oil sunflower seeds. Other items on their menu include dandelion and grass seeds, small berries and a variety of spiders and insects.

You might find indigo buntings singing very loudly from power lines, telephone poles or tall treetops, especially early in the morning. During the spring and fall migration there are sometimes entire flocks of indigo buntings feeding along roadsides where seeds are plentiful. Otherwise during the summer they typically feed alone. Like many birds, they usually migrate at night.

One of the amazing things about male indigo buntings is that their feathers are not blue at all. Just like other blue-colored birds, their feathers refract and reflect blue light so that they simply appear to be bright blue in the sunlight. If you hold up one of their feathers so the light shines on it from behind, it will look brown or even black. These birds are so cool!

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