Lazuli Bunting

The Lazuli Bunting is a small, brightly patterned songbird of the American West, named for its brilliant turquoise-blue coloring reminiscent of the gemstone lapis lazuli. Adult males have a bright sky-blue head, back, and rump, a warm cinnamon-orange breast band, a white belly, and two white wingbars. Females and immature birds are soft grayish-brown above with a buffy breast, whitish belly, and a subtle blue tinge sometimes visible on the wings, rump, or tail.

Where the Lazuli Bunting's range meets that of the closely related Indigo Bunting on the Great Plains, the two species hybridize, and their songs, which are learned from neighboring males rather than being fully innate, sometimes converge in these contact zones.

Key Field Marks

• Adult male: sky-blue head, back, and rump; cinnamon-orange breast band; white belly; two white wingbars
• Female/immature: grayish-brown above, buffy breast, whitish belly, faint wingbars
• Small, compact size with a short, conical bill

Similar Species

• Indigo Bunting males are uniformly blue overall without the orange breast band or white wingbars; the two species hybridize where ranges overlap.
• Western Bluebird males also show blue-and-orange but are much larger with a thin bill and upright thrush posture, not a stocky finch-like bunting shape.

Habitat

Favors brushy hillsides, riparian thickets, chaparral, and shrubby forest edges, often near water, across the western United States.

Range

Breeds from southern Canada through the western United States, east to the western Great Plains where it overlaps and hybridizes with the Indigo Bunting. Winters mainly in Mexico.

Migration

A medium- to long-distance migrant, moving to Mexico for winter.

Behavior

Males sing from exposed perches on shrubs or small trees to defend territory, and young males learn their songs by imitating neighboring territorial males, sometimes leading to local song "dialects."

Voice

The song is a bright, varied, warbling series of paired notes, similar in structure and quality to the Indigo Bunting's song. The call is a sharp, dry "chip."

Feeding

Feeds on seeds and insects, foraging low in shrubs and on the ground; visits feeders offering small seeds during migration.

Nesting & Breeding

The female builds a compact cup nest low in a shrub or dense grass. She incubates 3-5 eggs alone, and pairs may raise more than one brood per season.