indigo bunting blue | Best Life Birding- Birdwatching Tours

Check out this handsome fellow singing his heart out at Yates Mill Park in Raleigh, NC.
It’s an Indigo Bunting!
This species is one of the most vibrantly colored birds we’ve got here in North Carolina.
They are normally spotted from April to October and can be found in wide open fields which contain a few tall trees with scrub brush mixed into the grass.

Indigo Buntings are named for their deep blue color that makes them look like they’ve been dipped in indigo dye, yet they are actually dressed in black plumage.
Though they may look colorful, it’s a trick of the light which gives them this boldly hued appearance.
How can this be?

The secret to their incredible colors lies in their unique feather structure which diffracts sunlight to show only a visible blue wave length.
And because the blue is a light show rather than true pigmentation, depending on the angle or quality of the sunlight the Buntings can appear to have several shades of the blue color ranging from aqua to cobalt showing in it’s feathers.
Pretty neat huh?
🙂

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the badassssss full frame beast of an SLR, the mighty @canonusa
#5Ds

One of the prettiest birds we’ve got here in central North Carolina is the Indigo Bunting.
I spotted this one at Bass Lake Park in Holly Springs while walking on the trail a few day’s ago.
These brightly colored little gems are named for their deep sea-color that looks like indigo dye. The males appear to be blue with a tinge of black on the face, wings and tail. Females are toned in a lovely tannish-brown.

Although this bunting is named for its rich hues, that blue color on the males is actually a trick of light.
Believe it or not, adult male indigo buntings in full breeding plumage are covered in black feathers, but thanks to the diffraction of light by the feather structure, they appear to be a brilliant blue, a colour that changes from black to blue to turquoise as the angle of reflected light changes.

You can see the difference in these two photos for yourself.
The first photograph shown above was captured in full sunlight at Bass Lake.

The second posted below was another male Indigo Bunting taken in the woods at Yates Mill Park under much darker photographic conditions.