The Indigo Bunting is a small, brilliant songbird, highly sought after by backyard enthusiasts due to the male’s iridescent, deep cerulean blue plumage. This migratory species breeds across the eastern United States, from southern Canada down to the Great Plains. The female is a plain brown color, sometimes showing a faint blue tinge on the tail or wings. Attracting these birds requires a targeted approach addressing their specific dietary, shelter, and nesting needs during the breeding season.
Providing Specific Food Sources
The Indigo Bunting’s diet shifts significantly between seasons. While adults eat seeds in the winter, their breeding season diet relies heavily on insects and spiders for protein, especially when feeding their young. Offering live mealworms is a highly successful way to replicate this natural insect component at a feeding station.
For seeds, Indigo Buntings prefer smaller varieties, making the use of white proso millet and Nyjer (thistle) seeds particularly effective. They will also readily consume hulled sunflower chips, which are easier to eat than the whole seed. These small seeds should be presented in tube feeders designed for finches or on platform and tray feeders, which offer a stable perching area.
Placing feeders on the ground or utilizing a ground tray feeder is recommended, as buntings frequently forage for dropped seeds near thickets where they feel secure. A consistent supply of preferred foods can draw in both migrating and resident breeding pairs.
Optimizing Landscape for Shelter and Nesting
Creating the right habitat structure is often more important for long-term attraction than simply providing food, as buntings require specific conditions for breeding and safety. Indigo Buntings are birds of the “edge,” preferring brushy, overgrown borders, weedy fields, and areas where open space meets dense shrubbery. Leaving a section of the yard naturalized with leafy shrubs and thickets is essential, as this provides the dense cover they need to feel secure.
Nesting sites are typically concealed in dense shrubs or low trees, usually between one and ten feet off the ground. The female constructs the nest, and the surrounding thicket shields it from predators. To facilitate this, avoid excessive pruning in brushy areas, allowing plants like blackberry brambles, dense hedges, or low-growing native shrubs to thrive.
The male requires a prominent, high perch from which to sing and defend his territory. Tall trees, utility wires, or elevated fence posts near the brushy nesting area will serve this purpose. Providing a source of fresh water is also beneficial; a shallow bird bath or a ground-level dish that includes a dripping feature can attract them for bathing and drinking.
Understanding Migration Patterns
Indigo Buntings are neotropical migrants, present in North America only during the warmer months of the year. They typically begin arriving at their breeding grounds in late April or early May, with the main push of migration continuing into mid-May. This period, just before and during their arrival, is the most opportune time to maximize attraction efforts through supplemental feeding.
The breeding season runs through the summer, with most activity occurring from June through August, and females often raising two broods. By late summer, usually in September, the birds begin to depart for their wintering grounds in Central and South America.