Species BirdsIndigo Bunting

Indigo Bunting

Passerina cyanea

CommonBird
Illustration of Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea)

The Indigo Bunting male is entirely electric blue — the result not of pigment but of microscopic feather structures that refract light — making it one of the most vivid birds in North America. It navigates on migration using the stars, calibrating its star map each year against the rotation point of the night sky. Males sing persistently from exposed perches throughout the summer.

Habitat
Brushy forest edges, overgrown fields, and roadsides
Diet
Seeds, berries, and insects
How common
Common

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