{"id":104335,"date":"2022-07-17T04:47:40","date_gmt":"2022-07-17T10:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=104335"},"modified":"2022-07-17T05:00:10","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T11:00:10","slug":"lazuli-bunting-male","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/17\/lazuli-bunting-male\/","title":{"rendered":"Lazuli Bunting Male – Small In Frame"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LazuliLazuli Bunting male in the Wasatch Mountains \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I shared so many images yesterday that today I am keeping it simple with one image of a Lazuli Bunting male I photographed high in the Wasatch Mountains last week. The bunting is small in the frame because he wasn’t as close as I would have liked him to be.<\/p>\n

Right now male Lazuli Buntings are in their finest breeding plumage and I take great delight in seeing and photographing them. The morning light lit up his feathers and he stood out well from the green of the distant mountain slopes.<\/p>\n

This male Lazuli Bunting was singing<\/span><\/a> when I drove past him. He was on the wrong side of my Jeep which meant I had to drive past him, turn my Jeep around up the road a bit and head back to where he was perched on a serviceberry. I kept hoping the bunting would stick while I turned around which he did long enough for me to lock on and take two images of him perched and two of him diving towards the ground with his back side towards me.<\/p>\n

I sat for a bit hoping the male Lazuli Bunting would fly back up to this serviceberry and sing again but that was not to be. I was simply glad to have seen and photographed him.<\/p>\n

I have only seen a few female Lazuli Buntings this year and only from long distances. In the next few weeks I should be seeing them along with young buntings that have hatched this breeding season. The females and young Lazuli Buntings delight me every bit as much as the males.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Lazuli Bunting photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I shared so many images yesterday that today I am keeping it simple with one image of a Lazuli Bunting male I photographed high in the Wasatch Mountains last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,380,1731,26,773],"tags":[4004,6523,6605,4053,6530,5817,3940,1828,4062,4069,4270,4104,7289,6698,2315,6522],"class_list":["post-104335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-lazuli-buntings","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-amelanchier-utahensis","tag-berries","tag-breeding-plumage","tag-bunting","tag-buntings","tag-canyon","tag-lazuli-bunting","tag-male","tag-mountains","tag-passerina-amoena","tag-perched","tag-serviceberries","tag-serviceberry","tag-summer-3","tag-utah-serviceberry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-male-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5325.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-r8P","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53812,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/08\/26\/lazuli-buntings-in-serviceberry-trees-fattening-up-before-migration\/","url_meta":{"origin":104335,"position":0},"title":"Lazuli Buntings In Serviceberry Trees – Fattening Up Before Migration","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the past couple of weeks I have been able to photograph male, female and immature Lazuli Buntings as they have been gorging on the fruits of Serviceberry trees to fatten up before their migration.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult male Lazuli Bunting in a Serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-mia-mcpherson-8013.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-mia-mcpherson-8013.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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grasses, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-4973.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-4973.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-4973.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-grasses-mia-mcpherson-4973.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":93903,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/08\/23\/immature-lazuli-bunting-look-for-the-gape\/","url_meta":{"origin":104335,"position":2},"title":"Immature Lazuli Bunting – Look For The Gape","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"When I photographed this immature Lazuli Bunting three years ago today these images were eclipsed by me finding a rare Baltimore Oriole in the same area of the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Lazuli Bunting perched in a serviceberry - Inset showing the fleshy gape, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/lazuli-bunting-immature-gape-mia-mcpherson-inset-7588.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/lazuli-bunting-immature-gape-mia-mcpherson-inset-7588.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Lazuli Bunting perched on a serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-5990.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"One year ago today I was up in the Wasatch Mountains photographing pre-migration Lazuli Buntings fattening on the fruits of serviceberries and most of them were either immature or female buntings.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Female Lazuli Bunting foraging in a serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6291.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6291.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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