Breeding Location:
Wooded areas near water
Breeding Type:
Monogamous, Solitary nester
Breeding Population:
Common but local
Egg Color:
White to light blue
Number of Eggs:
3 - 4
Incubation Days:
12 - 13
Egg Incubator:
Female
Nest Material:
Stalks, grass, cotton, snakeskin, and paper, with lining of rootlets, grass, and hair.
Migration:
Migratory
Recommended Products:
General
Varied Bunting: Medium-sized bunting, mostly purple-blue with red wash on throat, breast, and back. Nape and eye-rings are red. Bill is gray and slightly curved down. Wings and tail are purple-blue. Female has brown upperparts with faint streaks, white underparts with brown wash on breast and sides, and blue-gray primaries and tail.
Range and Habitat
Varied Bunting: Breeds in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
Breeding and Nesting
Varied Bunting: Three to four white to pale blue eggs are laid in a nest made of stalks, grass, cotton, snakeskin, and paper, lined with rootlets, grass, and hair, and built in a low tree or bush, usually 2 to 10 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.
Foraging and Feeding
Varied Bunting: Eats seeds and insects; forages in low, dense vegetation and on the ground.
Readily Eats
Safflower, Apple Slices, Suet, Millet, Peanut Kernels, Fruit
Vocalization
Varied Bunting: Song consists of a series of high-pitched musical notes. Call is a wet "spik."
Similar Species
Varied Bunting: Lazuli Bunting is bright blue with a pale cinnamon-brown breast, and white belly and wing-bars; female is dull brown, paler below, and has two pale wing-bars.
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