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A Persistent Singer

"Sweet-sweet, where-where, here-here, see it-see it." This intriguing song of paired notes, each pair on a different pitch, weakening towards the end, is delivered by a brilliant blue mid-May arrival. It's the male indigo bunting, passerina cyanea.  His breeding range extends from Canada to the Gulf Coast. His arrival there brings the promise of being serenaded most any time from sunrise to sunset until possibly late August. That's long after other birds have grown quite.

He has traveled far from his Central America winter home to add his enthusiastic singing as well as his brilliant blue courting plumage to our summer days.

The object of his affection is a rich tawny brown female, somewhat darker on her back, a pale throat and brown-streaked breast. She has an unstreaked back, which helps to distinguish here from sparrows. 

In the male's winter plumage, this brilliant suitor will resemble his mate with only a hint of blue showing. 

These 5 1/4" to 5 3/4" birds have sparrow-like beaks. The male has a small black area  at the base of his beak. The lower mandible is white. In poor light, he may appear gray or black. But in sunlight his gorgeous blue radiates from his little body. The summer insect-eaters change to seed and fruit-eaters in the fall as the insect population decreases. There's then a bountiful supply of weed and grass seeds.

These are common birds of second growth areas, woodland edges, orchards, parks and garden plots so there's a fairly good chance that, at some point, you may hear his bunting's song. Or perhaps you might catch a glimpse of the male in his pretty blue suit, set off by darker wings of brownish or blackish hue.

One naturalists said that while the indigo's singing is joyful it's not so melodic. He commented, "He sings just as well as he can."

One indigo may sound like another but in reality there are variations in melody and sequence. These territorial birds get so they know their neighbors' songs and will permit them to remain in closer proximity to their territory than intruding strangers.     Sometimes a younger male will copy an older male's signature song and be allowed on the fringes of a territory with the older bird doing the fighting to keep unwelcome males out. The songs of these or any other males serve a function – a purpose – to proclaim ownership of a territory, an invitation to a female and a threat to other males.

After a pair has mated the female builds a cup-like nest of grass, leaves, bark-strips and paper, five to fifteen feet above ground in a bush or a small tree. In it she incubates 3-6 bluish unmarked eggs for abut thirteen days, according to the Book of North American Birds. 

The male sometimes brings her gifts of food during this time. If you happen upon the nest of eggs, the female will fly before you, twitching her tail from side to side and uttering a sharp brittle 'tsick-tsick."

The young are ready to leave the nest 8-10 days after hatching. The male also helps to feed the young. When it's time for a second brood, the female, who is secretive and silent, will build a new nest.     East of the Rockies is the area in which are found indigo buntings. In the extreme south, painted buntings are found and from the Rockies to the west coast lazuli buntings are found. On territorial fringes there's some hybridism.

Other names that have sometimes been attached to this bird include: indigo bluebird, indigo painted bunting, indigo bird, indigo finch, blue finch, and blue canary. The indigo bunting is a valuable bird for all insects it eats as well as being a persistent singer.

It's a welcome addition to the colorful parade of feathered visitors to our feeders in the past couple of weeks. They include evening grosbeaks, rose-breasted grosbeaks, goldfinches, pine siskins, cardinals, brown creepers, nuthatches, white-crowned sparrows, tree sparrows, song and field sparrows, juncos, red-winged blackbirds, robins, hummingbirds, various woodpeckers, a brown thrasher and, of course, those guardians of the woods and bossy bluejays.
 

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