Indigo buntings, with their stunningly violet-blue plumage, are arriving in Houston.
Indigo buntings are moving through the area on their spring migration. Look for them in backyards, area parks, and woodlots.A flock of sparrow-sized birds in stunningly violet-blue plumage could soon be blanketing your yard or maybe already have.
Because their migratory route includes a nonstop flight over the Gulf of Mexico, the little buntings will arrive in neighborhoods to rest and eat. They’ll dapple our grassy yards in glorious blue, while fattening up on insects, grass seeds and even birdseeds in backyard birdfeeders. Meanwhile, each young male must learn to sing by listening to the songs of both its paternal male, as well as other adult males on breeding grounds. It’s quite a learning curve because males compose new variations of song patterns and share them with each other — much like jazz musicians sharing riffs.
Mature males arrive on breeding grounds first and immediately begin singing to declare breeding territories.The female builds a cup-shaped nest about three feet above ground, broods eggs and raises chicks, while the male is scarcely involved.Surprisingly, adult males are black, rather than blue. Their lustrous blue color is an optical illusion created by feather structure that refracts light waves in the blue spectrum.
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