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Nuptial plumage, another ornithological term, is breeding plumage. Male buntings breed in their second year of life but do not attain the full complement of intense blue feathers until their third year. That accounts for some of the off-blue birds the Nielsens are seeing.
Don and Mary Nielsen wanted to know what the buntings feed their young. Though adult Indigo Buntings eat seeds, they feed their young insects because nestlings cannot digest seeds unless they are pre-digested as they are with Goldfinches, close relatives of Indigo Buntings. These bright yellow birds regurgitate partially digested seeds into the gaping mouths of young in the nest.
While taking pleasure in the indigo bird at the feeder, readers should be alert for the somewhat rare and larger (almost the size of a Cardinal) Blue Grosbeak, a bird I have never photographed. This strikingly beautiful bird has brown wing bars and more purple tones in his feathers than the Indigo Bunting.
Virginia naturalist John Trott may be reached at: P.O. Box 59, Washington, Va., 22747.
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