Lazuli Bunting
Learn to identify the Lazuli Bunting by ear. Master the "Here-I-am, see-my-blue!" phrase and tell it apart from similar species.
What the Lazuli Bunting sounds like
A spring male Lazuli Bunting looks almost painted on: bright sky-blue head and back, warm cinnamon chest, and a crisp white belly. Females are much subtler—soft brown overall with pale wingbars and often a wash of blue on the rump or shoulders if the light hits just right.
“Here-I-am, see-my-blue!”
How to tell it apart
Where you'll hear it
Look for them in brushy places with scattered shrubs and small trees. They love streamside thickets, shrubby hillsides, woodland edges, and weedy roadsides across the West.
Spring is the easiest time to find them, when males sing from exposed perches and flash those jewel-bright colors. By late summer they can go quiet and skulkier as they molt and feed before migration.
Similar species
Indigo Bunting
Male Indigo is blue all over, without the Lazuli's cinnamon breast and white belly.
Blue Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak is larger, chunkier, and has a much heavier bill.
Varied hybrid bunting
In overlap zones, some birds show mixed traits of Lazuli and Indigo Buntings.