Indigo Buntings home hunting

The song of a Red-eyed Vireo greeted me this morning just off the parking area of the east section of the Canon City Riverwalk. The continuous singing from dawn to dusk by this species makes it stand out when many songsters quiet down during mid-day.

A short way down the Riverwalk I watched a pair of Indigo Buntings exploring a thicket. The female kept returting to one branch, then the male would join her as they checked it out. At first I thought they might already have a nest there, but I couldn't see one (though per the Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas they are noted to be so skilled in camouflaging their nests that few were located during the Atlas survey).

A male Indigo, presumably this one, sang the complex song that males give to announce their presence to females and other males during breeding season. According to Birds of North America they can sing more than 200 songs per hour in the high frequency song time before sunrise. Both the plain brown female and her brightly colored consort deftly evaded my camera lens. For photos and more information click here.

A short way down the Riverwalk a MacGillivray's Warbler worked an area with a lot of tangles, flitting quickly about. A warbler species known for it's skulking behavior, I was able to watch it for about 5 minutes as it was working an area about 75 feet away. Read more here.

SeEtta