Every year we look forward to that glorious day in May when a little piece of blue sky, the first Indigo Bunting, arrives here to set up shop in the old field down the road, the neighborhood park or preserve, or…what a treat…our backyard feeders! Soon after arriving, this brilliant blue little bird will quickly find the tallest tree in sight and sing its bouncy song, from morning to dusk, seeking to impress a prospective mate.

Only slightly larger than an American Goldfinch, the Indigo Bunting will often eat the same foods as our small finches, Nyjer “thistle” and small sunflower chips in feeders, and grass and weed seeds in the wild. And it can use a finch feeder. Like many birds during nesting season, buntings will also eat insects, gleaning small bugs from tree foliage and taking live mealworms from feeders.

Indigo buntings are more closely related to cardinals and grosbeaks than to finches, and have larger, heavier beaks compared to similar sized finches. They are most closely related to the Painted Buntings of the Southern U.S. and Mexico and the Lazuli Bunting of the Western U.S. with which they sometimes interbreed and share songs. Sometimes nicknamed “blue canaries,” their song is a bouncy whistle, with notes often sung in pairs, repeated many times throughout the day. Young males learn their songs, not from their fathers, but from other adult males in the same neighborhood. Over many years, indigo bunting songs in a song neighborhood will evolve unique variations that can be distinguished from those in other neighborhoods. A local song can persist for up to 20 years, gradually changing as new singers add novel variations.

Although male indigo buntings appear bright blue to the human eye, they lack blue pigment. Their jewel-like color comes instead from tiny structures in the feathers that refract and reflect blue light, much like the airborne particles that cause the sky to look blue. Female indigo buntings are mostly brown and can be tricky to identify but look for tinges of blue in the wings or tail as a giveaway.

Share your photos of Indigo Buntings at your feeders with us in-store or on our Facebook! or Instagram pages!