Lazuli bunting can be found in weedy, open areas near bushes or trees.
Courtesy of Meghan Anderson
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The bird of the month returns for summer! The beautiful Lazuli bunting is usually seen in weedy, open areas near bushes or trees, often near a pond or ditch bank.
It is quite small, only slightly larger than a goldfinch, but its call is a sharp, strident warble of two to three seconds that is not easily missed once it is recognized. The male often sings from the top of a medium bush or tree. Like the male goldfinch, he dresses up in lovely colors for spring and summer breeding season.
Because of the bird’s size, this can best be appreciated with binoculars. His back and head are a bright sky blue, wings are blue-gray with white bands, and breast is orange on the top, white underneath. The female, in contrast, is quite drab all year, with brownish-gray back and head, with a faint buff color to the breast and faint white wing bars.
In the winter, the male’s plumage returns to match that of the female. Lazuli buntings are seed-eaters, but supplement with small insects and flower buds. During the breeding season, insects and small fruits form a larger part of their diet. Their nest is a small grass cup sometimes lined with animal hair. The female builds the nest, and incubates three to four pale green eggs for about two weeks.
The pairs are mostly monogamous. The chicks are born helpless and naked except for a fine down, but they grow and feather out quickly, and fledge in under two weeks.
Both parents feed the young, but the young males do not learn their father’s songs. Instead, when the 1-year-old males return to their breeding grounds for the first time, they learn the songs of older male Lazulis who are occupying territories nearby. The songs usually do not resemble those of their fathers.
Lazuli buntings migrate to spend the winter in the mountains of northwestern and central Mexico, but are back in Kittitas County in full breeding colors in early May, ready for another season.
The numbers of Lazuli Buntings throughout North America are generally stable at this time, although drought in parts of the West is a habitat threat. In some areas in the southern Rocky Mountains, where their ranges overlap,
Lazulis may hybridize with the Indigo bunting, an all-blue bunting that is found in the eastern United States.
To learn more about these and other fascinating birds of our area, come to our Audubon meetings, which will restart in September in Hal Holmes. Until then, Audubon.org or Kittitasaudubon.org have good information. Or, join our First Saturday Bird Walk on Aug. 6 at Irene Rhinehart at 8am. All are welcome! Happy summer!
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