{"id":130466,"date":"2024-07-12T02:42:17","date_gmt":"2024-07-12T07:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=130466"},"modified":"2025-09-08T07:22:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T12:22:08","slug":"female-or-possible-immature-male-indigo-bunting-at-sequoyah-nwr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/07\/12\/female-or-possible-immature-male-indigo-bunting-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","title":{"rendered":"Female Or Possible Immature Male Indigo Bunting At Sequoyah NWR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When I was at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge two days ago, I was thrilled to have this female\/immature Indigo Bunting in my viewfinder for a few seconds.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-130463 size-full\" title=\"Female or possible immature male Indigo Bunting on a log\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/indigo-bunting-female-immature-log-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-0641.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/indigo-bunting-female-immature-log-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-0641.jpg\" alt=\"Female or possible immature male Indigo Bunting on a log, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/indigo-bunting-female-immature-log-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-0641-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/indigo-bunting-female-immature-log-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-0641-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/indigo-bunting-female-immature-log-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-0641-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/indigo-bunting-female-immature-log-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-0641-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/indigo-bunting-female-immature-log-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-0641-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/indigo-bunting-female-immature-log-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-0641-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/indigo-bunting-female-immature-log-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-0641-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/indigo-bunting-female-immature-log-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-0641.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Female or possible immature male Indigo Bunting on a log \u2013 Canon R7, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, Canon 100-500mm at 500mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Because of the blue feathers I can see above and in front of the bunting&#8217;s eye, I believe this is an immature male. Those blue feathers are more pronounced in the full-resolution image than in this web-sized version. This bunting may have hatched this breeding season although I do not see a clear, fleshy gape in any of my images.<\/p>\n<p>The Indigo Bunting was quite cooperative. I exited Steve&#8217;s truck on the passenger side and took my photos of it across the hood. By doing that, I avoided most of the green grasses in front of the bird, except for the one strand of grass crossing in front of the bunting&#8217;s tail.<\/p>\n<p>The log on which the bunting is perched is a recent deadfall from some strong winds that have passed through the refuge, bringing many trees, large and small, down.<\/p>\n<p>I haven&#8217;t had the Indigo or Painted Buntings in my viewfinder as much as I had hoped so far, but there is still time left before the buntings migrate to their overwintering grounds.<\/p>\n<p>Indigo Buntings always, and I do mean always, bring back fond memories for me from when my sons were young, and we would go out looking for them on back roads in Georgia.<\/p>\n<p>Listening to the Indigo Bunting males singing on high perches and seeing them is often enough for me. Still, I would love more photos of these brilliant blue birds to share and include in my galleries. They are spellbinding birds in shape, color, and <a href=\"https:\/\/xeno-canto.org\/764921\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">song<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/indigo-bunting-images\/\">here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Indigo Bunting photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I was at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge two days ago, I was thrilled to have this female\/immature Indigo Bunting in my viewfinder for a few seconds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130463,"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":[27,13046,13973,13974],"tags":[13985,13984,6530,5817,12043,12147,13048,4962,13047,4104,15340,5300,2315],"class_list":["post-130466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-indigo-buntings","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-bottomland-hardwood-forests","tag-bottomlands","tag-bunting","tag-buntings","tag-female-immature","tag-fleshy-gape","tag-indigo-bunting","tag-log","tag-passerina-cyanea","tag-perched","tag-possible-immature-male","tag-roadside","tag-summer-3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/indigo-bunting-female-immature-log-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-0641.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-xWi","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":130466,"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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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":154802,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/09\/08\/immature-painted-bunting-getting-ready-to-migrate\/","url_meta":{"origin":130466,"position":1},"title":"Immature Painted Bunting Getting Ready To Migrate","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The last, and probably best, bird I saw and photographed yesterday at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge was a molting immature Painted Bunting.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Painted Bunting at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/painted-bunting-immature-mia-mcpherson-8058.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/painted-bunting-immature-mia-mcpherson-8058.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/painted-bunting-immature-mia-mcpherson-8058.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/painted-bunting-immature-mia-mcpherson-8058.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":130466,"position":2},"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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/indigo-bunting-male-sequoyah-grapevine-mia-mcpherson-3892.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":113894,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/06\/20\/male-indigo-bunting-at-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":130466,"position":3},"title":"Male Indigo Bunting at Sequoyah 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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/indigo-bunting-adult-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-0383.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/indigo-bunting-adult-male-oklahoma-mia-mcpherson-0383.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":129348,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/06\/09\/male-indigo-bunting-in-the-shadows\/","url_meta":{"origin":130466,"position":4},"title":"Male Indigo Bunting in the shadows","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perched male Indigo Bunting in the shadows, Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge, Johnston County, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/indigo-bunting-shadows-glow-mia-mcpherson-3449.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/indigo-bunting-shadows-glow-mia-mcpherson-3449.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/indigo-bunting-shadows-glow-mia-mcpherson-3449.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/indigo-bunting-shadows-glow-mia-mcpherson-3449.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53812,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/08\/26\/lazuli-buntings-in-serviceberry-trees-fattening-up-before-migration\/","url_meta":{"origin":130466,"position":5},"title":"Lazuli Buntings In Serviceberry Trees &#8211; 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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-mia-mcpherson-8013.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-mia-mcpherson-8013.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}