General

Lazuli Bunting: Small finch with bright blue upperparts, cinnamon-brown breast and sides, and white belly. Wings are dark with white wing bar. Female and juvenile have unstreaked, dull brown upperparts with blue wash on rumps and tails, paler brown underparts, pale eyebrows and two pale wing-bars.

Range and Habitat

Lazuli Bunting: Breeds from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and North Dakota south through western U.S. to southern California, northern New Mexico, and western 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.

Breeding and Nesting

Lazuli Bunting: Three to five pale blue eggs are laid in a loose cup of grass and rootlets built in a bush. Eggs are incubated for 12 days by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Lazuli Bunting: Eats mainly seeds, but also some insects. Prefers weed and tree seeds.

Vocalization

Lazuli Bunting: Song is a high-pitched, excited series of warbled phrases with the first notes usually repeated, descending the scale, and ascending again at the end.

Similar Species

Lazuli Bunting: Western Bluebird is larger and lacks wing bars; Indigo Bunting and Blue Grosbeak have blue underparts.