Indigo Bunting

How to find it

Look in weedy crops, savanna edges and freshly harvested farm fields rather than in deep forest. Young, partly open second growth is also worth a slow scan. The drier Pacific side and the Central Valley hold the most birds. Scan the ground and the grass stems, where it feeds, and watch for flocks of 20 or more. Where guinea grass has dropped its seed, look for birds feeding below. Later in the dry season, check wetter areas too, and watch for blue on the rump of otherwise brown birds.

How to recognise it

The Indigo Bunting is a small songbird, about 11.5 to 13 cm long, with a short, cone-shaped bill. A Costa Rican account calls it slimmer than most seed-eating finches and buffy overall.

Birds seen in Costa Rica during the northern winter are usually in non-breeding plumage:

- Males look mostly brown, with a scattering of blue, mostly on the rump.

- Females are brown all year.

- The female is much less streaked below than the female Blue-black Grassquit.

The breeding male is deep blue with black wings and tail edged in bright blue. That blue comes from feather structure, not pigment, so in strong light it can shift from deep royal blue to turquoise.

What it sounds like

Recording: Sam Ehlers, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

In winter the Indigo Bunting eats mostly small grass seeds, plus berries, buds and some insects. It feeds on the ground and also takes seeds from grass stems. In Costa Rica in winter it feeds on the ground on guinea grass seeds once the grass has dropped them.

It is sometimes seen alone or in small groups, but more often it forms flocks of 20 birds or more. Flocking is typical of its wintering grounds generally.

Where it lives

On its wintering grounds from Mexico to Colombia, the species uses weedy fields, savanna edges, low second growth and semi-open forest.

In Costa Rica it is found in weedy crops, savanna edges, freshly harvested farm fields, and young, partly open second growth. It is most numerous in the drier parts of the Pacific side and in the Central Valley. As the dry season goes on, birds move toward wetter areas. It occurs from sea level to about 1500 m.

When to see it

It is present from early or mid October until late April. Skutch noted that most leave Central America in the first half of April, and few are seen after mid-month.

Similar birds

Blue Grosbeak is larger, with a much heavier bill and clear brown or cinnamon wingbars. The Indigo Bunting has a smaller bill and lacks obvious wingbars. Rusty wing bars mark the grosbeak in every plumage, and it is a duller blue. The female bunting is much less streaked below than the female Blue-black Grassquit.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The AOCR Spanish name is Azulillo Norteño, and a bird list from Cloudbridge Nature Reserve gives the local name Indris. Costa Ricans are also said to know it as indre, and azulito norteño is used in Costa Rica and Colombia.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as M, a migrant, and a Costa Rican account calls it a migratory winter resident.