Its brilliant blue color accompanied by its unique song make the Indigo Bunting a highly prized wild bird. Sometimes nicknamed “blue canaries,” these brilliantly colored yet common and widespread birds whistle their bouncy songs through the late spring and summer all over eastern North America.
During breeding, indigo Buntings eat small spiders and insects such as grasshoppers, bugs, beetles and caterpillars. They also eat seeds of grasses, herbs and berries. In winter, Indigo Buntings eat small seeds, buds and some insects. Their main sustenance is small seeds of grasses. They can also be found at feeders and in rice fields consuming rice seeds. They do not drink often but obtain adequate water from the food they eat. They feed alone during breeding season and with flocks during winter.
Indigo Buntings migrate at night, using the stars for guidance. Researchers demonstrated this process in the late 1960s by studying captive Indigo Buntings in a planetarium and then under the natural night sky. The birds possess an internal clock that enables them to continually adjust their angle of orientation to a star—even as that star moves through the night sky.
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments