Indigo bunting (Photo By Dan
Pancamo)
Husband Walter and I
have had several visits this spring from indigo buntings. Each sighting in our
backyard has included three males, the brilliant blue plumage an indication
they were ready for serious courting.
They were never close
enough for a photo, but I got a satisfying photo fix of the colorful species via Gail Dixon’s blog Louisiana Belle here.
My first encounter
with real live indigo buntings was the spring of 1980. A whole flock of these remarkable
little beauties along with brown females appeared in our backyard, just a few
feet away from the sliding glass door in our kitchen.
In the middle of the
flock was a lone male painted bunting. He looked exactly as if he had actually
been painted in rich jewel colors. He didn’t look real. He was beautiful but
startling with dark blue head, chartreuse back and red-orange breast.
Painted bunting (Photo
By Dan Pancamo)
I recognized both
bunting varieties. I had seen their illustrations on the cover of my birding field
guide every time I had attempted to identify an unfamiliar bird.
I sat at the
kitchen table and watched--unseen, immobile and barely breathing as the living
works of art pecked around in the newly mowed St. Augustine grass. There I
remained until the group took flight.
By the next spring I
was freelancing, writing for Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant, a marine-research funding consortium headquartered at the
Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. Locally referred to as “the Lab,” the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory occupied a thickly
wooded 52-acre peninsula bordered by a bayou and Biloxi Bay.
Early on, I rode my bike to the Sea Grant office to discuss new or ongoing projects. One of the perks of
that work was seeing the indigo buntings, red-headed woodpeckers and a variety
of other birds, mammals and reptiles on the grounds of the Lab during the various seasons or in the surrounding waters.
By 1997 I had been
fulltime with Sea Grant for more than a decade. In April of that year I
accepted a position with the GCRL, packed up and walked across the parking lot
to my new office and new title as GCRL public information officer.
I loved that I would be going to work every day in an intellectually stimulating environment with less travel than Sea Grant required and with much more opportunity to be outdoors. It had been years since I rode my bike to work and the years came with changes in the varied habitats that had welcomed birds in our town.
I loved that I would be going to work every day in an intellectually stimulating environment with less travel than Sea Grant required and with much more opportunity to be outdoors. It had been years since I rode my bike to work and the years came with changes in the varied habitats that had welcomed birds in our town.
Development had gradually pushed eastward. Privately
owned areas closest to the Lab’s campus had changed from woods and diverse
undergrowth to concrete and asphalt that served residences complete with over-fertilized
lawns and landscapes.
The GCRL had expanded its footprint, too. I rarely saw the redheaded woodpeckers that once
welcomed me onto the campus, and I no longer saw the indigo buntings at all.
I don’t wish for those "good ole days,” but I do miss the exhilaration of seeing those amazing buntings
and woodpeckers every year. Perhaps my recent sightings signal a comeback to our area. One can hope.
The buntings are so stunning, and so lucky that you have seen both kinds. Only one time we saw an indigo. I read something fascinating abut them. Their feathers are not really blue, it is the way the light changes when it hits their feathers. No matter what causes it, they are just SO beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteWow, those are incredible photos. What beauties!
ReplyDeletein my nearly 70 years i have never seen either one of these birds and they are amazing and they are living works of art.... so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYou sure had some great adventures in your work life. I've never seen either of these birds, but would dearly love too. My Sis says I should move to LA and enter a retirement home with her,then I would see the birds as they are on the flyway not yet, I tell her,not yet.
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful birds! I've never seen anything like them, in our neck of the woods, but I'd sure love to!
ReplyDeleteUnlike you, I sometimes tend to find myself wishing for 'the good ole' days'. I just can't help myself, sometimes :) (I think it's just old age creeping in...)
Have a great week!
Thank you so much for the shout-out!! How sweet. :)
ReplyDeleteSeems our indigos are not as numerous at the swamp these days or maybe they caught on to my secret place in the bird blind. I was also lucky enough to spy a painted bunting, but it was a young male, so all his colorful plumage has not come in yet.
What a great environment you were able to work in. So sad that "progress" chips away at the habitat for wildlife. I do hope that you will see more and more bird visitors. Put out the welcome mat (feeders and plants) and they will come. :)
By the way, I loved your phrase: "living works of art." How true!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous, amazing "living works of art".
ReplyDeleteWe don't see these around my neck of the woods.
So sorry I haven't been looking at blogs for a while.
Between Mexico and getting the Mexico Lung and working on our huge Church Conference...I think I am finally back among the living again.
Wishing your dear Hubby a very Happy Belated Birthday too.
Wonderful to be able to see such colourful birds - makes me remember seeing bee-eaters in France. We don't have such exotica here.
ReplyDeleteBlessings from Dalamory
www.freda.org.uk