Indigo Bunting - Passerina cyanea
I went in to the Field Museum yesterday, after not being able to go in for a couple of weeks. It was really nice to work quietly in the lab for 5 hours, and visit with the regular crew of biologists. Dave Willard had taken out four birds from the freezer for me to work on: Blackburnian Warbler (Dendroica fusca), Canada Warbler (Dendroica wilsonia), American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla), and a male Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea). I think they were all birds that had been injured from downtown building collisions, and brought in to a wildlife rehabilitation center by volunteers. Obviously, they didn't survive their injuries, hence their arrival on my table in the Field Museum prep lab. I would rather that they were alive and off collecting bits of moss to make nests somewhere up north, but I do honor the privilege to study such beautiful creatures up close. The male Indigo Bunting's electric blue plumage was particularly stunning, so I took a photo of it. Have a great weekend!
At first I thought that bird had been dipped in paint! Amazing coloring. Great photo, too.
ReplyDeleteSo pretty! At High Island earlier this year, I walked by a tree with about 40 indigo buntings (and 2 painted buntings) who had just come in off the gulf. It looked like a tree decorated with little bits of bird neon. Gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThat's amazing. I've only seen a stray Indigo bunting here and there. I can't imagine seeing a tree full of them, let alone seeing Painted buntings too! They must have been resting up from their long journey.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't mention how difficult a job that bunting was, given its fragile state when it came to you. :-) I'm still impressed. I worked on a Rose-breasted Grosbeak that was beginning to spoil the week afterwards, and had the devil of a time.
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