Nature clicks #165 - Indigo Bunting

INDIGO BUNTING  

This is an image I was hoping for since a long time. We see the Indigo Bunting mostly in late spring and early summer here. I have never been able to make a picture of it away from a bird feeder until this morning. Indigo Buntings are actually black. The diffraction of light through their feathers makes them looking blue. This explains why the males can have many different color shades from turquoise to black. The Indigo Bunting is a migratory bird and spends the winter in Florida and in the tropics. They use the pattern of stars for guidance and migrate at night (source: iBird Pro app). This evening three of them were feeding in the grass here but the light was not sufficient anymore to make a sharp image.