Indigo Bunting vrs. Blue Grosbeak - pls. HELP! (1 Viewer)

I've looked at the pictures in my Sibley's, Peterson's and National Geographic guides and the overlap amongst the pictures only confused me more.

The rub is that I only viewed the bird from the front - and I saw no brown/rufous wing bars.

I got extremely detailed looks (very close up) of the female - but because of the overall brown/tan coloring I couldn't tell if she had the wing bar or not. I did see a definate darkening of the wing but it didn't look like the obvious wing bar of the male.

I saw the female first - on the top of a tall weed in a grassland next to a forest. I thought I was looking at one of the crested flycatchers (she did have a slight crest that was visible while alert) but ruled it out quickly. When male bird began answering her calls I realized I was looking at either an Indigo Bunting or a Blue Grosbeak but because of the front-on angle I couldn't tell.

I also looked through the gallery here and I am coming to the conclusion that until I am very very familiar with one or both of them that I will need to see the wing bar to decide.

Am I missing a key identification mark that is visible from the front? Was the presence of a slight crest significant?

The male blue grosbeak is about the size of a cow bird.

JTF said:

The male blue grosbeak is about the size of a cow bird.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I am just a terrible judge of size. Especially when the differences are only an inch and I'm viewing from 40+ feet away. I'd need to see them side by side to tell which was larger.

I'll head back tomorrow and try to get a look at the wing markings.