Any personal observations concerning attracting indigo buntings to backyards? What are they drawn to? (1 Viewer)

[Avon Avians]

Hello, folks!

Growing up in New England, I must admit that I've seen a lot of birds in my lifetime.
However, I can't say I've seen every bird common to our area.
And one bird I've never seen, not even once, is the indigo bunting.
And I'm still not sure why that is so.

Compared to other seasonal backyard birds, indigo buntings seem like they should be a little easier to attract.
They don't spend all their time in the canopies of trees, and their habitat needs seem relatively easy to meet the standard of.
And they feed on regular seeds such as sunflower and thistle seeds, apparently.

But despite this, I've never seen an indigo bunting, not only in our backyard, front yard, or in our town, but anywhere.

Does anyone who's seen one of these splendid birds have any suggestions regarding how to see them?
Or possibly even attract them to our own backyard?
After all, they don't seem to have particular preferences regarding habitat requirements that are too difficult to satisfy, even in the average backyard.

Any input from experience would be much appreciated.
Thanks! God bless!

 

[Lisa W]

We would occasionally see one feeding on the nijer seeds we had out for the lesser goldfinches we had feed in our yard.

 

[S_Man]

I found this page with a lot of details, apparently they prefer open habitats, with low vegetation and only scarce trees, like "wild shrubby fields and agricultural land bordered by hedges", they "generally avoid older woodlands and suburban or urban areas"...

If you don't know where to find this kind of landscape, you might need to join a local birding group, they often don't share publicly precise locations of nesting birds...

 

[Avon Avians]

I found this page with a lot of details, apparently they prefer open habitats, with low vegetation and only scarce trees, like "wild shrubby fields and agricultural land bordered by hedges", they "generally avoid older woodlands and suburban or urban areas"...

If you don't know where to find this kind of landscape, you might need to join a local birding group, they often don't share publicly precise locations of nesting birds...

Our town is somewhat suburban, but also offers a reasonable percentage of what I would describe as "agricultural land, shrubby fields, and scarce trees" behind our property.

Since we moved from Connecticut to New Hampshire, our new property offers much more open meadow habitat, and cannot be described as an old or mature woodland. It is sort of a sacrifice, though, since our chances of seeing any more pileated woodpeckers and barred owls are now diminished.

 

[S_Man]

Our town is somewhat suburban, but also offers a reasonable percentage of what I would describe as "agricultural land, shrubby fields, and scarce trees" behind our property.

Since we moved from Connecticut to New Hampshire, our new property offers much more open meadow habitat, and cannot be described as an old or mature woodland. It is sort of a sacrifice, though, since our chances of seeing any more pileated woodpeckers and barred owls are now diminished.

If those open shrubby areas are large enough and to their taste, they may come? Did you try eBird hotspots, they have maps with precise locations of observations, it's no warranty to see the birds of course, but it may help for next season when the males are singing, I suppose that's the best moment to spot them...

 

[MikeInPA]

Hello, folks!

Growing up in New England, I must admit that I've seen a lot of birds in my lifetime.
However, I can't say I've seen every bird common to our area.
And one bird I've never seen, not even once, is the indigo bunting.
And I'm still not sure why that is so.

Compared to other seasonal backyard birds, indigo buntings seem like they should be a little easier to attract.
They don't spend all their time in the canopies of trees, and their habitat needs seem relatively easy to meet the standard of.
And they feed on regular seeds such as sunflower and thistle seeds, apparently.

But despite this, I've never seen an indigo bunting, not only in our backyard, front yard, or in our town, but anywhere.

Does anyone who's seen one of these splendid birds have any suggestions regarding how to see them?
Or possibly even attract them to our own backyard?
After all, they don't seem to have particular preferences regarding habitat requirements that are too difficult to satisfy, even in the average backyard.

Any input from experience would be much appreciated.
Thanks! God bless!

It’s a little late reply but you still have plenty of time before they return this spring. They breed every year in my woodland, in springtime you often see little blue sapphires chasing each other around. They like running water, a fountain, a water drip into a bowl, or a small waterfall will not only attract Indigo’s but all sorts of warblers, orioles etc.

 

[etudiant]

Our town is somewhat suburban, but also offers a reasonable percentage of what I would describe as "agricultural land, shrubby fields, and scarce trees" behind our property.

Since we moved from Connecticut to New Hampshire, our new property offers much more open meadow habitat, and cannot be described as an old or mature woodland. It is sort of a sacrifice, though, since our chances of seeing any more pileated woodpeckers and barred owls are now diminished.

It sounds like you have really attractive habitat for Bluebirds. Maybe put up a few nest boxes and if possible, a water feature such as MikeInPA recommended.
If you don't get your buntings, with luck you'll still have some lovely Bluebirds.

 

[MikeInPA]

It sounds like you have really attractive habitat for Bluebirds. Maybe put up a few nest boxes and if possible, a water feature such as MikeInPA recommended.
If you don't get your buntings, with luck you'll still have some lovely Bluebirds.

Excellent suggestion, Eastern Bluebirds are just as nice as Indigo’s with the added advantage that they are present year round. If you do put up nest boxes then please don’t let them be used by House Sparrows. Keep a watchful eye on them for signs of House Sparrows nest building and remove until they give up. Same with House Wrens, they will build nests in any nearby boxes as well as the one they’re using.

 

[Scott98]

You should come down to Newbury, Mass. and do one of my club's free field trips to Martin Burns Wildlife Management Area later this spring and early summer. We usually have a 100% success rate with Indigo Buntings in there. Brookline Bird Club. If you're interested in doing it I can provide details. It's just over the border of NH and Mass. The trip into Martin Burns involves a mile or two of walking over 3 hours

 

[Charlie Spencer]

Down South I see them far more often at weedy fields than at feeders.

 

[Avon Avians]

It sounds like you have really attractive habitat for Bluebirds. Maybe put up a few nest boxes and if possible, a water feature such as MikeInPA recommended.
If you don't get your buntings, with luck you'll still have some lovely Bluebirds.

It is a decent habitat for bluebirds, but it isn't our property. Our property is somewhat small, and predominantly open woodland or edge habitat. Our lawn is disturbed quite a bit by us, our dogs, and cats (not ours). If we were to put up bluebird houses, I'd only imagine house wrens or invasive house sparrows using them.

I also thought that bluebirds preferred open areas with sparse ground cover and short grass. The field behind our property is full of tall weeds and shrubby cover. It's basically an "abandoned" agricultural field, although it is cleared out to some extent every fall or winter at the end of the year.

 

[Avon Avians]

You should come down to Newbury, Mass. and do one of my club's free field trips to Martin Burns Wildlife Management Area later this spring and early summer. We usually have a 100% success rate with Indigo Buntings in there. Brookline Bird Club. If you're interested in doing it I can provide details. It's just over the border of NH and Mass. The trip into Martin Burns involves a mile or two of walking over 3 hours

That's a nice offer, but although I'd love to see indigo buntings anywhere in the wild, I'd say I'm somewhat more interested in attracting them to our town by offering them favorable habitat and food sources.

We live in northern New Hampshire, and we are actually closer to the Canadian border than to northernmost Massachusetts.

 

[Paul-]

Excellent suggestion, Eastern Bluebirds are just as nice as Indigo’s with the added advantage that they are present year round. If you do put up nest boxes then please don’t let them be used by House Sparrows. Keep a watchful eye on them for signs of House Sparrows nest building and remove until they give up. Same with House Wrens, they will build nests in any nearby boxes as well as the one they’re using.

Nothing like coming to a bird forum and seeing some jackass tds’er who can’t help but inject his personal politics into bird watching. Congrats. Strong SDE.

 

[Charlie Spencer]

Nothing like coming to a bird forum and seeing some jackass tds’er who can’t help but inject his personal politics into bird watching. Congrats. Strong SDE.

I don't know what a tds'er or an SDE is, but then I don’t see what's political about MikeinPA's comment either. House Sparrows and House Wrens will indeed occupy any nesting opportunities they can find.

 

[Avon Avians]

I personally would prefer not to mess with the nests of birds, including aggressive house wrens and even invasive house sparrows. I believe that putting out nesting boxes alone is supportive of bluebirds and other native birds, because any sparrow that uses one might otherwise have usurped a natural cavity. In other words, it alleviates the competition between birds searching for scarce cavities and birdhouses, and allowing pair of nuisance birds to nest in a birdhouse might still alleviate the competition by simply making nesting areas more available to all species.

I'm aware that my opinion is not popular, but I don't intend to force it on everyone. I believe that the reason house sparrows are so successful is because we create habitats that support them (urban areas) where they can breed with minimal or no competition from other birds, boosting their populations over other species, which is their unfair advantage.
House sparrows aren't invasive simply because they are in North America, as they are only abundant in populated areas. They are scarce in the undisturbed wilderness.

When we were vacationing in Connecticut, we went to a hotel near a Denny's diner. The dumpster was infested with house sparrows and starlings. It was clear to me that the reason they were the only birds there wasn't because they were introduced here, but because the habitat wouldn't sustain many other species anyway.

Somehow, in our town, there appears to be a balance that worked its way out. House sparrows are abundant where the buildings and concrete are, but scarce around our property, where trees, shrubs, and tall herbaceous and grassy plants sustain an abundance of bird diversity.

Regarding house wrens, they are native species, and there is no reason to deter them from a birdhouse outside of personal opinion.

 

[etudiant]

I personally would prefer not to mess with the nests of birds, including aggressive house wrens and even invasive house sparrows. I believe that putting out nesting boxes alone is supportive of bluebirds and other native birds, because any sparrow that uses one might otherwise have usurped a natural cavity. In other words, it alleviates the competition between birds searching for scarce cavities and birdhouses, and allowing pair of nuisance birds to nest in a birdhouse might still alleviate the competition by simply making nesting areas more available to all species.

I'm aware that my opinion is not popular, but I don't intend to force it on everyone. I believe that the reason house sparrows are so successful is because we create habitats that support them (urban areas) where they can breed with minimal or no competition from other birds, boosting their populations over other species, which is their unfair advantage.
House sparrows aren't invasive simply because they are in North America, as they are only abundant in populated areas. They are scarce in the undisturbed wilderness.

When we were vacationing in Connecticut, we went to a hotel near a Denny's diner. The dumpster was infested with house sparrows and starlings. It was clear to me that the reason they were the only birds there wasn't because they were introduced here, but because the habitat wouldn't sustain many other species anyway.

Somehow, in our town, there appears to be a balance that worked its way out. House sparrows are abundant where the buildings and concrete are, but scarce around our property, where trees, shrubs, and tall herbaceous and grassy plants sustain an abundance of bird diversity.

Regarding house wrens, they are native species, and there is no reason to deter them from a birdhouse outside of personal opinion.

On a macro scale, you are doubtless correct.
That said, seeing a Bluebird brood fail because House Sparrows evicted the parents and killed the nestlings feels like a betrayal, you offer them a nest site and then it becomes a death trap.
I wound up using the Van Ert trap (Van Ert Enterprises) to eliminate the invasive sparrows.
That did not mean all was sweetness and light, the House Wrens had their 'no other nests allowed' radius and the Bluebirds were not above evicting Tree Swallows from a nest box that captured their fancy. Clearly nesting sites were at a premium in my area of Connecticut.

 

[Avon Avians]

On a macro scale, you are doubtless correct.
That said, seeing a Bluebird brood fail because House Sparrows evicted the parents and killed the nestlings feels like a betrayal, you offer them a nest site and then it becomes a death trap.
I wound up using the Van Ert trap (Van Ert Enterprises) to eliminate the invasive sparrows.
That did not mean all was sweetness and light, the House Wrens had their 'no other nests allowed' radius and the Bluebirds were not above evicting Tree Swallows from a nest box that captured their fancy. Clearly nesting sites were at a premium in my area of Connecticut.

Yeah, that's the difference between bird feeders and birdhouses. At feeders, birds seem so docile because there's plenty of food to go around. But at houses they fight, and there never seem to be enough to make them all happy.

We used to live in Connecticut. Much of the state seems dominated by buildings more so than wilderness, and from these habitats the house sparrows "spill out" into the less populated areas of the state.

We now live in the northern portion of New Hampshire. Human habitations are sporadic here, and that probably limits the spread of house sparrows throughout the state. That's not to say that they cannot become a nuisance here, but they can only be as populous as the human habitations with which they are associated.