Beautiful Blue!

July 5, 2025

I saw him this morning preparing to take a dip in the birdbath. A bath to clean those striking blue feathers of this male Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea).

Bathing allows birds to freshen and sustain their feathers. Bathing helps birds in their ability to fly, assisting with insulation, and in waterproofing those feathers. And of course it helps to eliminate any soil, and parasites.

This care of their feathers helps but doesn’t keep them from wearing out. Indigo Buntings molt twice a year. Males go from their vibrant blue coloring during mating season to brown for their winter garb in autumn, and back to their mating season blue in the spring. Females wear their brown plumage year round, but also molt in autumn and spring.

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Published by

Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.

2 thoughts on “Beautiful Blue!”

    1. Hi Diane! Hope your 4th of July was great! I try not to overwhelm with facts but nature is so awesome! So very glad you like the image. With some things, like an Indigo Bunting, it is hard *not* to get a good photo!
      So very glad you read my posts!
      Bren

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