A Stunning Swath Of Shiny Pastels Combines To Create A Bird That Shines Like A Glistening Jewel – Meet The Varied Bunting!
Despite their striking glistening jewel-like appearance when seen up close, this is an inconspicuous bird, often concealed in desert scrub.
MEET THE VARIED BUNTING
The varied bunting (Passerina versicolor), is a species of songbird in the cardinal Cardinalidae family. A stocky bird with a very short tail, only 4.3-5.5 inches long the male of this species is a mosaic of rich plum, crimson, lavender, violet, cherry red, and blue, becoming browner towards fall.
Both females and juvenile members of this species are light to chestnut brown in color flecked with white.
Most members of this species live in Mexico, however, they do spill across the border into the United States along the southern border in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Varied buntings prefer scrubby habitats, often on steep slopes, especially in riparian areas and desert washes.
Varied bunting like to forage on the ground hunting for insects, fruit, and any seeds they can find.
This species begins nesting in late May through to early June, though some birds delay nesting until the start of the summer rains in July or August.
During this time they weave a cup-shaped nest out of grass bound together with spider webs in the branches of thorny scrub. Usually built near water, two to five blue-white eggs are laid and incubated for around 14 days. Young are fully feathered after 10 days and leave the nest several days later.
The Varied bunting as a species is threatened by habitat loss due to grazing, mining, and residential development. To add more stress it is also parasitized by cowbirds and often trapped for the caged bird trade.
