Indigo Bunting chick?

[Eric Patdu]

Is this an Indigo Bunting chick? I can't seem to find pictures of indigo bunting fledgelings for comparison.

The reason I am suspecting that this is an IB chick is because there is what I believe a female IB flying back and forth in the vicinity and I also saw an male IB high up in the trees.

I would like to assure everyone that I did not go near or handled the chick as I was on a wooden bridge while the chick was over a swamp. I did not notice this bird until I was about to leave the area as it was sitting still. And after a few shots, it jumped back inside the shrubs.

[Hazel Grant]

I've seen only 2 IBs and they were adult, so I'm not sure. Could be, given the blue tint, especially that color of blue around the eyes. . Someone more versed in species could tell you. Like the shot, though.

[John Chardine]

Looking at the overall colour of the chick and the bill shape, Indigo Bunting seems reasonable to me. Chicks this age are being fed by parents so they would not have been far off.

[Eric Patdu]

Thanks Hazel and John for your reply. I think I can tag this photo as such.

[Rick Poulin]

Based on the relative length of the bill compared to the thickness I am wondering about Cowbird. Any thoughts on the size of the chick compared to the adult Indigos Eric?

[John Chardine]

That's a thought Rick. Here's an older Brown-headed Cowbird chick for comparison. The bill does look very similar in both birds.

[Eric Patdu]

Hi Rick / John,

As far as I can recall, the chick size looks right for the Indigo Bunting. Here is a heavily cropped photo of what I believe was the I.B. female that was flying back and forth (seems to be agitated but as I have mentioned, I didn't realize that there was a chick out in the open only until I was about to leave)

[Rick Poulin]

Leg colour may be usefull. A quick check seems to indicate very young cowbirds have pale legs and feet whereas Indigo Bunting have dark legs and feet.

John's picture shows brown legs and feet but a slightly older bird.

Eric's picture of the female is more the colour of the legs on young Indigo's.

[Eric Patdu]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the follow-up answer. I did a quick research on the description of fledgling Indigo Bunting but can't really seem to find any. I did find that juvenile brown-headed cowbirds have black legs. But then again, those are juveniles and not fledglings. I also checked my Sibley and Nat Geo field guides but to no avail. But both of them have illustrations of juvenile brown-headed cowbirds with dark legs.

When I did an image search on Indigo Bunting fledgling though, the first few photos shows birds similar to my photo but, I'm not sure if those are verified IDs.

But I would also say that your point of my photo being a cowbird cannot be discounted because they are known to parasitize indigo bunting nests. So, it's possible that the I.B.'s I saw could be raising a young cowbird.

Thanks again for your comment.

[Rick Poulin]

A further check of the information did not provide any more clarification for me on the leg colour of fledling cowbirds vs Indigo Buntings.

The only thing I do question is cowbirds having "black legs." John's photo clearly shows brown not black legs which I believe is accurate.

In the end I think you have to go with a gut feeling as to the size of your bird Eric.