Birds of blue on golden sunflowers.

 INDIGO BUNTING : Passerina cyanea

Did you know there are some blue birds who really aren't blue at all!  This is the male Indigo Bunting, appearing as blue as can be - whereas the female is just a dull light brown and quite finch-like in appearance. He perched, calling merrily, from one of the tallest sunflowers, his mate answering from the distant stand of trees surrounding the sunflower field. 

Usually only the male buntings are noticed because of their cobalt blue plumage, but actually they are black birds! There's no blue pigment in their feathers. As with Blue jays, sunlight is refracted within the structure of the male bunting's feathers, making them appear blue and iridescent in direct sunlight.

Mostly seen along woodland edges, feeding on insects, it will sometimes come to feeders in spring before insects are plentiful. It's late to migrate, leaving at night in flocks of 5-10 birds. Males return before the females and juveniles, and almost always to the previous year's nest site. The female builds the nest, has 2 broods per year, laying 3-4 pale blue eggs, and the juveniles move to within just a mile from the birth site. 

I'm hoping I will see these handsome birds in my own garden some day.

Have you seen these birds in your garden?