[obol] Buntings at Basket Slough

[Dennis P. Vroman]

Kit, Lars and Others,

The feather pattern of this Indigo Bunting are pretty typical of a "Second 
Year" bird, or a bird fledged last year.  Even with the SY Lazuli males of 
the west, not all of the body feather may be replace by molt.  With this 
Indigo, the brown flight feather of a SY bird are pretty obvious (especially 
the tail!).

Dennis



> The bird appears to be a first year
> male-hence the light feathers on the
> belly. The upper parts are all dark,
> there is no trace of wing bars, not
> much evidence of being a hybrid. Lars Norgren
> On Jul 1, 2007, at 4:26 PM, Kit Larsen wrote:
>
>>
>> George Grier, Cynthia Pappas, and I visited Basket Slough this
>> morning to search for the INDIGO BUNTING that has been reported
>> recently. We did find the bird, near the "cherry tree snag" as
>> reported before. It was in the presence of a male LAZULI BUNTING and
>> a female bunting. Based on the behavior we observed, we suggest that
>> the Indigo and the female are paired. The Indigo acted aggressively
>> towards the Lazuli, driving it off seveal times and chirping as if to
>> protect its territory. On a few occasions, the Indigo and the female
>> bunting both flew down to the same location in the blackberries,
>> where they remained hidden for a few minutes. Once it appeared that
>> the female was carrying food down to the blackberries.
>>
>> I got a few photos of the Indigo and of the female. I wonder that the
>> Indigo might be a hybrid (with Lazuli), based on the light (almost
>> white) underparts. I would appreciate others' opinions on this.
>>
>> http://uoregon.edu/~klars/indbunting1.jpg
>> http://uoregon.edu/~klars/indbunting2.jpg
>>
>> Kit Larsen
>> Eugene
>>
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