The Indigo Bunting (Passerina Cyanea)
Jan 4th, 2008 by Josey
The Indigo Bunting (Passerina Cyanea)
The Indigo Bunting is a common, brightly colored small song bird that is familiar to the eastern and central United States and southeastern Canada.
Adult male Indigo Buntings are brilliant blue during the breeding season, with a darker, almost purple crown. Females and their young are brown with beige wing-bars and only a hint of blue on their tails and shoulders. Only the males sing.
Indigo Buntings are small birds, ranging in sized from four to five inches and weighing usually less than one ounce. Their wingspan is approximately seven to nine inches. The Indigo Bunting will migrate in winter to southern Mexico, the West Indies and Central America. They migrate during the night, using the stars to direct themselves. It is believed they learn this trait by watching the stars while still young birds in the nest.
The Indigo Bunting are popular cage birds in Europe and Mexico. When they are in captivity, since they cannot migrate, they experience disorientation during certain times of the year if they cannot see the stars from their enclosure.
The Indigo Bunting feeds on small insects, spiders, seeds, bulbs and berries. They often frequent backyard bird feeders. They are solitary birds, except during mating season.
Perching birds, play an important role in the earth’s ecosystems. They consume many varieties and amounts of food and serve as food for others and as hosts for parasites. Indigo Buntings affect the populations of the insects they eat, and help distribute seeds of the plants whose berries they eat.
Perching birds, such as the Indigo Bunting affect the populations of the insects they eat.
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by: Josey Layne