Help With Indigo Bunting

Today I walked out to see a gorgeous male indigo bunting sitting on a low branch in my backyard garden. I might have missed him except that I was looking for the male cardinal who was perched nearby. To see these 2 colorful birds sitting on the same branch was an awesome sight. Any other time I would have run back inside for my camera, but today we were experiencing effects from the storm that has been raging across the country. Dispite my desire to get a photo, I felt I should stay focused on my tasks as I had gone out to make sure everything outside was properly secured.

A bit later I saw him on the opposite side of the yard where he perched on a small columnar apple tree that is currently in bloom. I had seen this colorful bird in my garden once before, maybe 2 years earlier. I would like to do anything that I can to encourage him to stay or spend more time here. I've checked online but so far have been unable to find anything more specific than "fruit, seeds, insects".

Does anyone know more specifically what he eats, what I might provide for him, what plants including perrenials, shrubs, trees I might plant to attract him? I do have a feeder full of thistle outside. I put it out for the goldfinches that are here in winter and left it out when I saw that buntings also like thistle. Any other ideas?

Thanks for any help. If I see him again - hopefully on a less hectic day - I will try to get a photo.

The Indigos and Painted Buntings that visited me over the winter enjoyed eating my mixed up seed that incuded Sunflower chips and finch mix.

From the other list: Dandelion, Goldenrod and Thistle.

Berries also.

gardenpom, thanks. very nice photo! I do so wish that I had been able to get a photo of mine. Hopefully, I will see him again soon. He was the same brilliant, breathtaking blue as yours. I think his wings were a bit darker. Thanks for the info. I have a feeder with sunflower seeds. Will have to add finch mix and sunflower chips.

pelletory, thanks. I have dandelions and goldenrod. This brings up another question. I read that for habitat they prefer edges of forests and weedy fields. There is a forest just behind my fence. I think a lot of "my" visitors live there. Some live in my yard. Also, I'm way behind in weeding the backyard garden. I've been working on that recently. Don't want to take away his habitat though. Do you think I should leave him a weedy area in one corner? I do have a back corner that I call the wild area. Sometimes I let that go a bit. Anyhow, I don't want to remove the things that are attracting him here.

When planting my garden I chose a lot of items that provide food for birds. Some berries/fruit in my garden include: apples, crabapples of various color and size, rose hips in late summer and fall, blueberries, strawberries, several varieties of ornamental cherries that produce tiny cherries, sand cherries, wild black cherries, several varieties of grapes including a massive network of muscadine vines along forest edge, several viburnums, native honeysuckle berries, tiny fruit of ornamental quince, fruit of species camellia (looks like med size crab apple), peaches, beechnuts, weeping willow (I've seen the waxwings eat seeds from this tree), juniper berries, wax myrtle berries (like bayberry), crepe myrtle seeds, seeds of various echinacea, gaillardia, black eyed susan, mulberry. I'm sure there is more. That's just what I can think of right now. Any idea which if any of these he may be attracted too?

Nice habitat! They do like unruly lawns too,

Thanks pelletory. It's a relatively small area, densely planted with paths through the flowers and a small patch of lawn. It has worked wonders for attracting birds. They have lots of hiding places, safe zones, food variety, and the inevitable insects that are drawn to fruiting plants. The garden is always packed with birds, butterflies, and hummers. I find quite a few birds nesting in the area, particularly in rose thickets and clematis vines.

Although I didn't plan it this way, I usually have lots of unruly areas to make the Bunting happy.

I was seeing females long before I first spotted any males....in both the Indigo and Painted Buntings....the males seem to be very shy. By mid-winter they seemed to feel at ease in my backyard, coming to feed two or three times a day.

Beautiful bird, gardenpom. I've never seen the coveted male painted bunting. The male indigo bunting didn't seem all that shy when I saw him on Sunday. He wasn't very far from me, and I stood there staring at him for an eternity. The blue was so spectacular. I couldn't look away.

However, that was during the period when that storm was passing through our area. It wasn't raining but the winds were quite severe. foliage was dancing every which way. Trees bent so far I swore they would break. I was surprised to see so many birds in my yard during all of that. I wonder if they were confused by the weather.

I didn't know what the females looked like until yesterday when I was looking them up online to try to find out what they like in terms of food and habitat. The female indigo bunting looked like a drab brown color. Last summer i found a dead bird on my front porch. It looked just like the photo of the female. It had flown into the window. At the time I could not ID the bird so I took photos planning to ask for an ID. I sure hope I'm wrong, but it did look like female bunting.

you are very lucky to have the painted bunting as a regular at your feeder.

This is a pic I got of a female Indigo with a Painted Bunting male. They are pretty but plain, especially next to a Painted.