Varied Bunting

Overview

Varied Bunting: Medium bunting, mostly purple-blue with red wash on throat, breast, back. Nape and eye-rings are red. Bill is gray and slightly curved down. Wings and tail are purple-blue. Eats seeds and insects. Short flights, alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Varied Bunting is unevenly distributed and inconspicuous, so very little is known about it.
Eggs are polymorphic in color among populations, a rare phenomenon in passerine birds.
They spend most of their time concealed in dense desert brush, coming into view only when the male sings from the top of a bush.
A group of buntings are collectively known as a "decoration", "mural", and "sacrifice" of buntings.

The Varied Bunting has a large range, estimated globally at 1,400,000 square kilometers. Native to Guatemala, Canada, the United States, and Mexico, this bird prefers subtropical or tropical shrubland ecosystems. The global population of this bird is estimated at 500,000 to 5,000,000 individuals and does not show signs of decline that would necessitate inclusion on the IUCN Red List. For this reason, the current evaluation status of the Varied Bunting is Least Concern.