It is summer time in Missouri, the heat is here and as of late so has the rain.
A play on light, that is what I call the Indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea) a small seed-eating bird in the cardinal family that is found in the Americas.
The brightest of blue birds looks black when the light shines from behind. During the breeding season, the adult male appears mostly a vibrant cerulean blue. Only the head is indigo. The wings and tail are black with cerulean blue edges. In fall and winter plumage, the male has brown edges to the blue body and head feathers, which overlap to make the bird appear mostly brown. The adult female is brown on the upper parts and lighter brown on the underparts. It has indistinct wing bars and is faintly streaked with darker markings underneath. The immature bird resembles the female in coloring, although a male may have hints of blue on the tail and shoulders and have darker streaks on the underside. In the adult female, the beak is light brown tinged with blue, and in the adult male, the upper half is brownish-black while the lower is light blue.
Using a pattern of stars nearest to the North Star to help guide them. This species of buntings breeds from southern eastern Canada (Saskatchewan) to Maine, south to northern Florida and eastern Texas, and westward to southern Nevada. Their winter range begins in southern Florida and central Mexico and stretches south through the West Indies and Central America to northern South America. Preferred habitats include brushy slopes, old pastures and fields grown to scrub, woodland clearings, and forest edges adjacent to fields.
A group of buntings are collectively known as a “decoration”, “mural”, and “sacrifice” of buntings.
Until the next adventure and thank you for stopping by!
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