Lazuli Bunting Passerina amoena

All The Birds Of North America: Lazuli Bunting Passerina amoena

Lazuli Bunting Passerina amoena Buntings are round little birds with conical, finchlike bills; they are closely related to the cardinals and the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The Lazuli Bunting nests in thickets and low bushes, and the male sings continually from exposed perches. In the Great Plains, it sometimes hybridizes with the eastern Indigo Bunting (P. cyanea).

Identification 5-6". Male has bright blue hood, back, and rjump; sides and breast orange-brown; belly white; wings dark with 2 white wing bars. Female and juvenile grayish brown above, buff below, with pale wing bars and some pale blue on wings, rump, and tail; juvenile may have streaked breast.

Lazuli Bunting Passerina amoena Voice Song a loud series of sweet, jumbled, rising and falling notes, some repeated. Calls a pit or chip and a dry buzz.

Lazuli Bunting Passerina amoena Habitat Streamside thickets, brushy areas, and woodland clearings with scattered shrubs.

Range Breeds from S. British Columbia to Manitoba, south to S. California and Oklahoma; absent from Pacific Northwest. Winters from S. Arizona southward.