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A winter record of Indigo Bunting in central Ohio

First observed 17 Feb. See below for written details

It is important to keep in mind the erratic appearance of the bird when considering this record. Bob has identified the bird as an Indigo Bunting. The other main consideration is Lazuli Bunting for which there is no Ohio record. While the photos are clearly of a Passerina bunting, it the written notes which assign it to species. But what do you think? The bird was also quite skittish as attested to by this passage by the observer Bob Royse:

It was very wary. These (photos) were taken from about 175 ft. away with a 600mm lens + 2x and cropped from a tiny portion of the original slides.

Descripion as it was made chronologicallyby Bob Royse:

17 February 2000

Distinctly SMALLER than the WTSparrows.
Typical uniform dark tawny brown of female I.B.'s on both back, wings and breast
NO streaking at all on back
Pale, indistinct wingbars
Indistinct streaking on breast similar to the type of streaking on an Orange-Crowned Warbler
Typical slatey-gray conical bunting bill
No trace of a real blue anywhere, but some slightly darker, grayer areas existed in the wings and tail.

18 Feb.: The Indigo Bunting made another brief appearance at my feeder around 1:00 today. Again it was feeding on the ground on sunflower seeds in the company of NCardinals. Thanks for all the messages sent to me about additional things to look for. I don't really have much more to add to my initial description. Today's sighting only enforced the fact that I believe it is an Indigo Bunting. My mention of stripes on the breast and wingbars are indeed extremely faint. Again the color is a dark buff or a tawny yellowish-brown. No stripes or marks are evident anywhere on the head or back. The bird seemed in no way sick or injured and there is no reason for me to think it's not 100% healthy. [A] possibility could be a Lazuli Bunting, but females of that species always show blue on the rump (although I can't claim to have ever seen an imm. female).

27 Feb. The Indigo Bunting reappeared at my feeder briefly again this afternoon. It had not been seen in 9 days. A large group of DEJuncos and WTSparrows were present as well, so presumably the bunting is associating with a mixed flock of those species.

10 March, . . . the Indigo Bunting returned, again with the flock of Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows. The bird is very wary, but I was able to get some low quality photographs of it, if anyone is interested for documentary purposes only. Today there is currently some slushy snow on the ground and the bird came to feed on the ground where I could observe it more closely. Since I last saw it, it has begun to moult. The fine striping on the breast is gone and splotches of blue are beginning to emerge (on the breast only at this point). The bird is most likely an imm. male.

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maintained by Victor W. Fazio III since 19 March 2000