|
Lazuli Bunting |
|
Passerina amoena |
| Description: 5-5 1/4" Sparrow-sized, male bright blue with pale cinnamon breast, white belly and wing bars, female dull brown, lighter below with two pale wing bars, female Indigo Bunting similar but lacks conspicuous wing bars | Habitat: Open brushy areas, weedy areas, open deciduous woodlands of aspen, willows, alders or cottonwood trees, chaparral, scrublands, shrubs near streams |
| Nesting: 3-4 pale blue eggs in a cup of grass and rootlets in a bush | Range: breeds from Canada through western US south to California, western Oklahoma, winters south of US border |
| Voice: a high pitched excited series of warbled phrases, the first notes usually repeated, descending the scale and ascending again at the end, similar to song of Indigo Bunting, but phrases less distinct, and only first phrases repeated | Diet:
insects seeds |
| Notes: species on increase with cutting of western forest and increase of brush growth, commonly flocks and moves to higher elevations after breeding, associates with Chipping Sparrows and other finches during migration. |
| When present in Oklahoma: mostly northwestern third of state in summer only |