{"id":53812,"date":"2018-08-26T04:48:09","date_gmt":"2018-08-26T10:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=53812"},"modified":"2025-09-08T17:45:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T22:45:14","slug":"lazuli-buntings-in-serviceberry-trees-fattening-up-before-migration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/08\/26\/lazuli-buntings-in-serviceberry-trees-fattening-up-before-migration\/","title":{"rendered":"Lazuli Buntings In Serviceberry Trees – Fattening Up Before Migration"},"content":{"rendered":"

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. These images were taken from August 17th through yesterday.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Lazuli Bunting giving me the eye – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The juveniles look much like the female Lazuli Buntings<\/span><\/a> at this time of the year, the easiest way for me to tell them apart from the female is that they show a yellow colored, fleshy gape at the base of the bill and the adult females don’t.<\/p>\n

This immature Lazuli Bunting does show the yellow, fleshy gape and a bill that has the dried juice of berries on it. I liked the almost curious look I was getting from this young bunting.<\/p>\n

\"CuriousCurious looking immature Lazuli Bunting – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I liked the curious look I appeared to be getting from this immature bunting too. Some of the serviceberry trees have been picked clean but there are some like this one that are still heavy with fruit and the fruit is attracting the buntings and many other birds right now. This young bunting has spots of dried juice on its lower mandible and shows the normal color of their bill better than the top photo.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult male Lazuli Bunting in a Serviceberry – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Lazuli Bunting males are much more brightly colored than the females and immature birds, especially on their breeding grounds. I photographed this male as he was feeding on the serviceberry berries two days ago.<\/p>\n

\"MoltingMolting male Lazuli Bunting eating a Serviceberry berry – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Lazuli Buntings form small flocks at this time of the year and begin to molt, they do not complete molting on their breeding grounds instead they will fly to southern Arizona and New Mexico and Sonora, Mexico and complete their molt there over a period of about two months and then continue their migration.<\/p>\n

This male has started the first part of his molting process. I photographed him the same day that I found the Baltimore Oriole<\/span><\/a> and the air was filled with smoke that day so his colors don’t seem very vivid due to that not the molting process.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult female Lazuli Bunting in a Serviceberry – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Female Lazuli Buntings are duller in appearance than the males but they often show a hint of blue color on the top of their tails like this female does. This female stopped eating the fruit long enough to look in my direction for a few seconds before she flew away.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Lazuli Bunting eating a Serviceberry berry – Nikon D500, f9, 1\/500, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I photographed this female Lazuli yesterday as she gorged on the ripe, juicy berries, she twisted her head around often while poking her bill into the berry.<\/p>\n

The Lazuli Buntings will begin their migration soon and I hope to take more photos of them before they go. I always miss these birds when they are gone for the winter.<\/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":"

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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":154956,"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":[27,380,4594,5346,5345,26],"tags":[6523,6666,6530,5817,6010,4286,4070,6375,4067,1828,4062,2313,4270,6698,4193],"class_list":["post-53812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-lazuli-buntings","category-morgan-county","category-shrubs","category-trees","category-utah","tag-amelanchier-utahensis","tag-berry","tag-bunting","tag-buntings","tag-curious","tag-eating","tag-female","tag-gape","tag-immature","tag-lazuli-bunting","tag-male","tag-molting","tag-passerina-amoena","tag-serviceberry","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-male-mia-mcpherson-8013.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dZW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59574,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/08\/17\/pre-migration-lazuli-buntings-fattening-up-on-fruit\/","url_meta":{"origin":53812,"position":0},"title":"Pre-migration Lazuli Buntings Fattening Up On Fruit","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6291.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/lazuli-bunting-female-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6291.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":104434,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/21\/young-lazuli-bunting-in-a-serviceberry\/","url_meta":{"origin":53812,"position":1},"title":"Young Lazuli Bunting In A Serviceberry","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I escaped into the coolness of the Wasatch Mountains yesterday morning for a few hours. While I was there I photographed this young Lazuli Bunting.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lazuli Bunting juvenile in a serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-immature-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6695.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-immature-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6695.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-immature-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6695.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/lazuli-bunting-immature-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6695.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":115106,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/08\/11\/immature-lazuli-bunting-and-ripe-serviceberries\/","url_meta":{"origin":53812,"position":2},"title":"Immature Lazuli Bunting And Ripe Serviceberries","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 11, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"While up in the high country of the Wasatch Mountains yesterday morning, I was delighted to photograph this immature Lazuli Bunting with ripe serviceberries.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Lazuli Bunting with ripe serviceberries, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/lazuli-bunting-immature-serviceberries-mia-mcpherson-7396.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/lazuli-bunting-immature-serviceberries-mia-mcpherson-7396.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/lazuli-bunting-immature-serviceberries-mia-mcpherson-7396.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/lazuli-bunting-immature-serviceberries-mia-mcpherson-7396.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53621,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/08\/17\/lazuli-bunting-juvenile-perched-on-a-serviceberry\/","url_meta":{"origin":53812,"position":3},"title":"Lazuli Bunting Juvenile Perched On A Serviceberry","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Even though the sun was high I couldn't resist photographing a juvenile Lazuli Bunting that flew in and perched on a Utah Serviceberry branch because to my eye the setting was both enchanting and very appealing.","rel":"","context":"In "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 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":93903,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/08\/23\/immature-lazuli-bunting-look-for-the-gape\/","url_meta":{"origin":53812,"position":4},"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 - 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