Vermont Rare Bird Reports 2019

N/A

25-30 degrees F over the observation time period. Light south wind, mostly cloudy with occasional sun. ~ 1 foot of "old" snow on the ground.

Fuji-Film Finepix autoshoot "point and shoot" camera, 16 mps, 42x optical zoom

Living in NC for 25 years, I saw indigo buntings frequently while birding and occasionally in my yard. After moving to Vermont 6 years ago, I have seen at least a pair in my yard at feeders every spring into early summer.

Yard with fruiting deciduous shrubs, crabapple tree, spent perennial beds, and surrounding maple trees.

The only place I saw the bird was eating on the tree trunk which I place the mixed seed. He was the sole bird eating there each time I saw him. Unfortunately, I did not see him fly. He had a what-appeared-to-be injured right foot, as he was holding it up at times and would hop a little to change position while eating. I did not observe any interactions between other bird(s). Upon first sight without binocs, I honestly thought he was a white-throated or white-crowned sparrow, since the white throat patch was so obvious. After looking with binocs, I noticed his coloration was different than the aforementioned, so I took many pix of him during two different observation periods.

None heard.

I saw the bird eating mixed seed on a tree trunk three different time periods, one from ~11:40 AM - 12:00 PM, one from ~ 1:45 PM - 2:15 PM, and the last from ~ 4:25 PM - 4:40 PM (it was almost dark). I documented with pictures the first two times, since it was too dark the last time. He might have been there more often, but I was busy doing things in the house. All three times, I noticed he was holding up his right foot often and when he changed his eating position, he would hop. I tried to stay watching when he stopped eating and left the trunk, but I missed it each time. I wanted to see how his flight was and where he flew to, since he was obviously injured. Its behavior of staying in the same place for a long time, buff chest, tan wing bars, and eating alone was a flag that this bird might be atypical for here at this date. But it was only after putting my pix up on the computer Sunday night that I thought he was "different". On Monday, I emailed pix to my bird ID expert, Kyle Jones, who ultimately decided it was an Indigo Bunting.

Sparrow size, not too slender, as bird appeared to be "puffed up" for most of my observation time. The first time I saw it, it was turned to the side, but the other times I saw him he was facing frontward.

Mostly buff-colored with faint brown streaking on chest. Prominent white throat patch, brownish head. Cone-shaped bill, which appeared to be pinkish.

Cone-shaped bill, which appeared to be pinkish. He appeared to have an injured right foot, as he would hold it up a times.

Did not get a good look at back, as he was facing mainly to the front. In a couple of the pix, the back appears to have some blue streaking.

Did not get a look at the back/rump.

Tan wing bars. Upon zooming in on pix, there appears to be a small amount of blue color near the wings on either side.

Slightly streaked buff breast going down to belly and underside. Could not see tail coverts.

Not a long tail, fairly "short". Upon zooming in on a couple pix where tail was visible, tail appeared to have some blue streaking

I initially thought bird was a white-throated or white-crowned sparrow, since white throat patch was prominent and size was comparable. Bird was also eating mixed seed on a piece of tree trunk I put seed on, where I've previously seen white-throats and song sparrows eat. Its behavior of staying in the same place for several minutes, buff chest, tan wing bars, and eating alone was a flag that this bird might be atypical for here at this date.

Possibly an immature? I have many more pictures available, if needed. I did not see the bird the next day (Sunday, 11/25).