{"id":129348,"date":"2024-06-09T02:59:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-09T07:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=129348"},"modified":"2024-06-09T08:10:03","modified_gmt":"2024-06-09T13:10:03","slug":"male-indigo-bunting-in-the-shadows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/06\/09\/male-indigo-bunting-in-the-shadows\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Indigo Bunting in the shadows"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the birds I spotted and photographed on my last trip to Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge was this male Indigo Bunting in the shadows of the leaves.<\/p>\n

\"PerchedPerched male Indigo Bunting in the shadows \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/250, ISO 1600, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The canopy of tree leaves above the bird did not dim the vibrant blue hues of his feathers. In fact, he seemed to glow all on his own.<\/p>\n

I am missing out on photographing Lazuli Buntings by living in Oklahoma instead of Utah, but now I have Indigo and Painted Buntings to focus on. I’m okay with that!<\/p>\n

Every time I hear and see Indigo Buntings, I am reminded of going “bunting hunting” with my sons when they were children. We would go on long back road drives, looking specifically for these buntings. I didn’t have the gear then to photograph them, but we all loved looking for these beautiful blue birds.<\/p>\n

During the early part of their breeding season, it appeared that the males were always singing<\/span><\/a>. That seems to be the case here in Oklahoma too!<\/p>\n

I stuck around and photographed this male for several minutes, hoping that a spot of sunlight would move over toward the bird. He flew off before that could happen.<\/p>\n

I haven’t been able to explore Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge in Texas as much as I would like, but I bet there are plenty of Indigo Buntings there too.<\/p>\n

It has been an unusual very wet spring here, and some roads at Hagerman NWR<\/span><\/a> are closed due to flooding. As soon as they open though, I’ll be off exploring every one of them. You can bet the farm on that and it would be a 100% safe bet!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

One of the birds I spotted and photographed on my last trip to Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge was this male Indigo Bunting in the shadows of the leaves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129344,"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":[27,13046,15144,13973,15021],"tags":[4004,13985,13984,6530,5817,13048,6583,4062,13047,4104,4677,165,4076],"class_list":["post-129348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-indigo-buntings","category-johnston-county","category-oklahoma","category-tishomingo-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-adult","tag-bottomland-hardwood-forests","tag-bottomlands","tag-bunting","tag-buntings","tag-indigo-bunting","tag-leaves","tag-male","tag-passerina-cyanea","tag-perched","tag-shadows","tag-spring","tag-trees"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/indigo-bunting-shadows-glow-mia-mcpherson-3449.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-xEg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":158717,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/10\/01\/young-indigo-bunting-getting-ready-to-migrate\/","url_meta":{"origin":129348,"position":0},"title":"Young Indigo Bunting Getting Ready To Migrate","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge late last week, I was thrilled to take photos of this young Indigo Bunting perched in vines in nice light.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Indigo Bunting perched on a vine, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/indigo-bunting-immature-mia-mcpherson-9030.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/indigo-bunting-immature-mia-mcpherson-9030.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/indigo-bunting-immature-mia-mcpherson-9030.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/indigo-bunting-immature-mia-mcpherson-9030.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":128229,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/05\/04\/indigo-bunting-male-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":129348,"position":1},"title":"Indigo Bunting Male At Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This image shows a male Indigo Bunting singing on a wild grapevine in the morning. It was taken taken earlier this week at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Indigo Bunting singing on a wild grapevine, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/indigo-bunting-male-sequoyah-grapevine-mia-mcpherson-3892.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/indigo-bunting-male-sequoyah-grapevine-mia-mcpherson-3892.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/indigo-bunting-male-sequoyah-grapevine-mia-mcpherson-3892.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm thrilled with the photos I took of a male Indigo Bunting at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma yesterday morning near the Arkansas River.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Indigo Bunting near the Arkansas River, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/indigo-bunting-adult-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-0383.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/indigo-bunting-adult-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-0383.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Bunting Morning","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Late last week I headed up into the Wasatch Mountains to look for birds in cooler temps and had a great time photographing two bunting species before 8 am.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Inquisitive adult male Lazuli Bunting, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-male-adult-mia-mcpherson-3912.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-male-adult-mia-mcpherson-3912.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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