BLUE BIRDS SEEN IN NORTH AMERICA

Varied Bunting 

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Passerina Versicolor 

Breeding males are purple-red with a bright red patch on the nape, which becomes browner in the fall.

Females have a smooth grayish-brown overall plumage.

Juveniles of both sexes resemble the adult female.

BILL: short and thick.

SIZE: small songbird measuring about 4.3 - 5.5 inches in length, with a wingspan of 8.3 inches.

WEIGHT: weighs about 11 - 13 grams.

COLOR: purple-red, red, brown, light brown, and grayish-brown.

Insects, seeds, and fruit.

Arid thorn brush, riparian areas, scrub forest, canyons, and desert washes.

Southern parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas in the United States south throughout Mexico as far as Oaxaca. Small disjunct populations occur in the state of Chiapas in Mexico and southeastern Guatemala.

CALL: Include simple chips and buzzes.

SONG: A long warble consisting of rising and falling phrases, as well as short descending burry notes.

NEST: Nest is an open cup of grass and spider webs, placed near the outer branches of thorny shrubs.

EGGS: 2 - 5 pale blue or green eggs, with a variable amount of speckling and spotting.

INCUBATION: 14 days.

Mated pair forages together, gleaning insects from leaves and pecking on the ground for seeds.

SOURCES: https://www.birds-of-north-america.net

                   https://en.wikipedia.org

                   https://www.allaboutbirds.org