Overview
Lazuli Bunting: Small finch, bright blue upperparts, cinnamon-brown breast and sides, white belly. Dark wings with white wing bar. Forages on ground, low in trees and bushes. Eats seeds, insects, caterpillars. Short flights, alternates rapid wing beats with brief periods of wings pulled to sides.
Range and Habitat
Lazuli Bunting: Breeds from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and North Dakota south through western U.S. to southern California, northern New Mexico, western Oklahoma, and eastern Nebraska. Spends winters south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Preferred habitats include dry, brushy ravines and slopes, as well as cleared areas and weedy pastures.
Topo Map:
Perching-like Body
Listen to Call
Similar Sounding
Voice Text
"see-see-sweet", "sweet-zee-see-zeer"
Interesting Facts
Male Lazuli Buntings two years of age and older sing only one song, composed of a series of different syllables, and unique to that individual.
They start their molt during late summer on their breeding grounds, then stop this molt and migrate to molting areas in southern Arizona, New Mexico and northern Sonora, or the southern tip of Baja California where they finish molting before continuing their migration to wintering grounds in western Mexico.
A group of buntings are collectively known as a "decoration", "mural", and "sacrifice" of buntings.
Bird Term Glossary
Author
Gary Owen Dick
Artist
Yury Lisyak
.