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  3. Indigo Bunting

Birds · Passeriformes · Cardinalidae

Indigo Bunting

Passerina cyanea

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk.

Spotted something wrong?

The indigo bunting is a species of passerine bird of the family Cardinalidae native to eastern, central and south-western North America, which spends the winter in the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas and Central America as far as Panama and sometimes as far as northern South America.

Weight

11 g – 21 g

Size

11 cm – 13 cm

Life expectancy

11 years

Diet

Omnivore

Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

In pairs

Usually lives in pairs, sometimes for life.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

RainforestTemperate forestGrassland
12countries18parks1same family

Fun facts

  • Experiments with this species in a planetarium in the 1960s showed for the first time that migratory birds navigate by the stars: the buntings learn as youngsters the point around which the night sky turns and use that reference as a compass.
  • Its blue is structural, not pigmentary: the bird is really brown, and the colour comes from the diffraction of light in its feathers. Against the light it looks almost black.
  • The males learn their song from their neighbours, not from their fathers, and in one area local dialects can form that persist for decades.

Life cycle and biology

Skeleton type
Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat and environment
Forest edges, scrub, hedgerows and farmland of eastern North America; winters in Central America and the Caribbean
Sexual maturity
12 months
Gestation / incubation
12 days
Litter / clutch size
3.5 (average)

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passerina_cyanea

Where to find it

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The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.

Where to see it

Parks and dive sites where this species has been documented — showing 10 of 18.

Related species

Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Indigo Bunting — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.

Same taxonomic family
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Keep exploring

Based on what we already know about indigo bunting.

Comments

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See full glossary
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See its range on the interactive map→
Great Smoky MountainsUnited States
Big BendUnited States
Mammoth CaveUnited States
Sian Ka'anMexico
CalakmulMexico
Sierra GordaMexico
TikalGuatemala
Maya Biosphere ReserveGuatemala
CongareeUnited States
ShenandoahUnited States
See all 18 parks
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Wood Duck

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Wild Turkey

Meleagris gallopavo

CountriesUnited States
ParksGreat Smoky MountainsUnited States
TagsOmnivore
Omnivore
Diurnal
In pairs
Bird
Rainforest
Temperate forest
Grassland

North America10

South America2

United States
Mexico
Guatemala
Canada
Colombia
Costa Rica
Canada
Costa Rica
Cuba
Guatemala
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
United States
Colombia
Venezuela