Indigo Bunting Missouri Department of Conservation

The indigo bunting is a sparrowlike bird with a conical bill. Adult male upperparts are turquoise blue when seen in sunlight; otherwise they appear dark blue or blackish. The wings and bill are gray. Underparts are blue. First-spring males are blotched with blue and brown. Female is pale brown with faint wing bars and streaking on breast; the bill is gray. Young are more heavily streaked below. Song is a series of whistled couplets, with each couplet usually slightly lower in pitch: sweet-sweet, tew-tew, chew-chew. Call is a sharp spit. Similar species: The closely related blue grosbeak looks similar and can also appear black in some lighting, but it is much larger and has a very large bill; in good light, it also has two brown wing bars. The blue grosbeak is rare to uncommon in many parts of Missouri, while the indigo bunting is abundant and easily seen statewide. The eastern bluebird (Missouri’s state bird) is a type of thrush; it’s larger, with a much thinner bill; both sexes have an orangish breast and white belly. Another close relative, the lazuli bunting, is very rarely seen in western Missouri, usually in spring. Male lazuli buntings have an orangish breast and white belly, similar to the eastern bluebird.

Turn off your lights! These are the birds migrating through North

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