Lazuli Bunting

The Lazuli Bunting is named after the blue gemstone lapis lazuli due to its spectacular plumage. It breeds in brushy habitats from sea level to more than 3,000 meters. It ranges as far north as southern BC to southern Saskatchewan and the western United States. It winters in southeastern Arizona and Mexico.

Adult Male (spring/summer)

Brilliant, intense sky blue hood, black lores and stubby silver bill. Upper back and scapulars blue with brown wash. Lower back, rump, uppertail coverts brilliant sky blue. Breast rufous brown; belly and undertail coverts white. Wings black with primaries edged with brilliant blue and tertials buffy edged; one large and one narrow white wing bar. Tail short and black with brilliant blue edging. Legs and feet are black.

Adult Female (spring/summer)

Grayish brown head, nape and back, uppertail coverts, wings and tail. A delicate light-blue tone to wings, tail, and rump and the 2 buff-coloured wing-bars distinctive. Bright buff orange band across breast blends to lighter brown on belly and undertail coverts.

Juvenile

Similar to adult but male has dull blue feathers with brown or buff tips especially on head, nape and back resulting in dull blue-brown variable blotchy appearance. Female similar to adult but overall cinnamon colour.

General:

Stocky, short-tailed songbird. Length: 13-15cm. Wing: 22cm. Weight: 13-18grams.

Behaviour:

Males tend to sing from a high perch persistently during the day. These songs are among the handful of those heard during the early afternoon when many other songbirds are relatively quiet. For the spring migration north, males usually arrive at their breeding grounds slightly earlier than females, and the older birds ahead of the younger ones. After the breeding season Lazuli Buntings begin their pre-basic molt but then interrupt it before migrating south to stop overs in Arizona, Baja and New Mexico where they complete their change in plumage before moving to their wintering grounds. Lazuli Buntings eat invertebrates, seeds, and grains, gleaning insects from shrubs or foraging on the ground, and sometimes visiting feeders.

Habitat:

The Lazuli Bunting tend to prefer open woodland and riparian areas with low trees, shrubs, bushes and weedy patches, often with elevated perches nearby; residential gardens may also provide suitable habitat. Note that this bird can be found at high elevations on occasion, sometimes-over 3000 meters.

Information:

Mature male Lazuli Buntings have one song, which is unique to the individual bird. Immature males arriving on the breeding grounds in their first spring tend to not have a song of their own yet, but can copy the songs of other nearby males. This results in ‘song neighbourhoods’, where the songs of males in one area sound similar to each other, but different from males elsewhere. 
Building a small nest of grasses lined with fine hairs, usually low in a thick bush or shrub, Lazuli Buntings typically have a clutch of 3-5 pale blue eggs. Females incubate, but the male will sometimes help feed the chicks.

Similar species:

Indigo Bunting, Western Bluebird, Blue Grosbeak.

Conservation Status:

Listed as Least Concern. It is common and widespread and populations appear stable.

Capture Rates

Actually preferring the more arid conditions of the interior, Lazuli Bunting has been a usual summer resident at Colony Farm. It then migrates south for the winter as seen by zero capture rates from October through April. The peak in June may correspond to individuals moving throughout the park before settling into breeding territories.

Molt Summary:

PS/PF: HY incomplete; PB: AHY complete (PS of body feathers occurs in HY)
Preformative molt is eccentric with all gr covs, outermost 4-8 pp, the innermost 3-6 ss, the outermost 0-5 pp covs and rects replaced.

Occasional birds replace also replace innermost 1-3 pp and outermost 1-3 s

PA limited to body feathers mostly on head, throat and breast (SY more extensive)

Buntings often have an extensive preformative molt including all lesser, median and greater coverts, carpal covert, alula, tertials, additional inner secondaries and outer primaries. Members of the Cardinalis family like Grosbeaks and Buntings where males have such contrasting and distinctive plumages are very helpful for learning molt patterns and especially helpful in looking for molt limits in females of the same species.

This SY male in May shows distinctive contrasts between 2 generations of feathers; juvenal and formative and illustrates the eccentric pattern of replaced remiges (primaries and secondaries) common in this species.

In its preformative molt following the breeding season last year this bird replaced lesser, median and greater coverts, the carpal covert, alula, the outermost primaries (pp 2-9; primaries are numbered distally away from the birds body with p9 the outermost) and innermost secondaries (ss 5 & 6) and all 3 tertials (ss 7-9). The retained innermost primary and outermost 4 secondaries (S4-P1) are bracketed in the photo.

This particular bird also replaced the outer 6 primary coverts – notice the washed out, worn and lightly pigmented appearance of the retained juvenal feathers especially the now very worn and tapered 3 innermost primary coverts (red arrow).

A close up of the primary coverts of a SY male in May clearly shows the difference between feather generations. In this photo the innermost 6 primary coverts and innermost visible primaries are retained feathers – notice again the lightly pigmented appearance and brownish rachises of the retained feathers versus the glossy black rachises of the replaced feathers.

The preformative molt is extremely variable in this species, this SY male in May having replaced all lesser, median and greater coverts, carpal covert, all 3 alula feathers, outer primaries P3-P9 and inner secondaries S5-S9 (including all 3 tertials). The outer primary coverts have also been replaced in this individual.

This SY male in June replaced all lesser, median and greater coverts, carpal covert, all 3 alula feathers, outer primaries P4-P9 and inner secondaries S6-S9 (including all 3 tertials). The primary coverts were all retained feathers in this individual.

This SY male in July replaced all lesser, median and greater coverts, carpal covert, all 3 alula feathers, outer primaries P3-P9 and inner secondaries S6-S9 (including all 3 tertials). The primary coverts were again all retained feathers in this individual.

Another example of the variability of the preformative molt in LAZB, this second year (SY) male has replaced lesser, median and greater coverts, the carpal covert, all 3 alula feathers, the outermost primary coverts, the outer primaries (P3-P9), and innermost secondary (S6) and all 3 tertials (S7-S9).

Tail shape can be another helpful clue to ageing birds in the hand. It is important not to use tail shape alone however as it is generally not very reliable because of individual variation and the possibility of accidental loss and replacement (called adventitious molt).
Tail shape is not helpful at all in ageing LAZB as both adults and hatch year birds typically replace retrices.

This second year (SY) female has replaced median and greater coverts, all 3 alula, the 5 outermost primaries (P5-P9) and likely the two innermost tertials (S8 & S9). Notice the narrow, faded and abraded primary coverts contrasting with the replaced greater coverts.

Note: Some females can be difficult to age in summer when the plumage becomes worn.

The tail of the SY female above remembering again that both adults and hatch year birds typically replace retrices (see SY male above).

A clear molt limit within the primary coverts (red arrow) can be seen on the second year (SY) female below.

Although the fluorescent blue of most adult males extends to the head and crown as in the after second year male above, some birds can have an unusually extensive buffy-brown wash to their crowns.

The wings of ASY males in spring/summer (May – July)  below  show no discernible molt limits, all body and flight feathers having been replaced in the birds definitive adult prebasic molt following the breeding season last year. Note the blue edging to all of the primary coverts and remiges (primaries and secondaries).

ASY male tail remembering that both adults and hatch year birds typically replace retrices (see SY male above).