Singing the blues can be a good thing in south Texas, especially when the blues in question refer to Indigo Buntings! This shockingly pretty bird is a very common migrant in southern Texas and on some days, seems to be the most numerous bird around.
Male Indigo Bunting.
Although there are other birds with blue plumage in North America (think jays, Black-throated Blue Warbler, the Blue Grosbeak, and bluebirds), the Indigo Bunting takes the cake when it comes to shades of blue.
Indigo Bunting.
This gorgeous little bird seems to show various shades of sapphire depending on the light.
The incredibly blue Indigo Bunting.
Indigo Bunting.
Ironically, you could also say that this bird actually has black plumage because the feathers themselves don’t actually have blue pigmentation. They reflect shades of blue due to their structure.
Note the black edging to the wings and tail in this Indigo Bunting.
In certain lights, this vibrant blue bird looks black.
The Indigo Bunting is such a common species compared to many of our woodland species because it prefers to breed in forest edge habitats and thus does much better in fragmented forest than many other species.
Indigo Bunting.
Thousands of these gorgeous blue birds are passing through southern Texas at his time. I enjoy and appreciate every sighting of this beautiful little bird because they will have mostly flown north to their breeding grounds in a matter of weeks.
One can never get enough of the stunning Indigo Bunting!