Annual Indigo Bunting confusion (1 Viewer)

I seem to do this each year. Went on a bike ride and stopped to look at several black little birds, all were singing . They were not starlings.

Finally, on the way back one was in at least some sun. It was still dark, bluish if anything, less color in wings. Then I remembered the same thing from last May. Indigo Bunting!

I go to my list and yes, I claim to have seen it. I also claim to have seen a female Blue Grosbeak. Notes are few, don't remember this at all.

The males of these two species are similar.

Tero said:

The males of these two species are similar.

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I've never seen Blue Grosbeak, but the two rufous wing bars ought to make it readily identifiable, compared with the uniform blue Indigo Bunting. I've only seen the latter on one occasion - four males at Wilson Tract, Ontario - but the blue on them was immediately obvious (it was a sunny day, though).

I've yet to see a blue grosbeak, but after seeing several male indigo buntings this weekend, I think they're fairly easy to recognize. Solid blue. There is a little black on the wings, I think, but judging from a field guide the blue grosbeak males have reddish wing bars, like Bluetail said. The females of the two species definitely look more difficult to distinguish than the males. I think I saw a couple of female buntings tonight (maybe they were grosbeaks?), and I'm mostly attributing that to the fact that I only saw male buntings in the area.

This bird definitely is seen differently depending on what binoculars you use. If the bird is far away and you use some 10x or 12x, it will definitely appear almost black. The first few I saw I noticed the bill being conical and only somewhat lighter, so from great distance you could say they were not starlings.

I think the Blue Grosbeak female is mostly grayish or brownish but has a little color on the wings, but that was last year, so I can't really say much anymore. I looked at books and color photos. None of the colors match any of my birds well.

Yes, I can certainly believe that they would be very difficult at long range.