The blue bunting (''Cyanocompsa parellina'') is a species of

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

in the family

Cardinalidae Cardinalidae (often referred to as the "cardinal-grosbeaks" or simply the "cardinals") is a family of New World-endemic passerine birds that consists of cardinals, grosbeaks, and buntings. It also includes several birds such as the tanager-lik ...

, the cardinals or cardinal grosbeaks. It is found in

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wa ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...

, Honduras,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

Taxonomy and systematics

French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte described the blue bunting in 1850 as ''Passerina parellina'', and then ''Cyanoloxia parellina''. German ornithologist

Jean Cabanis Jean Louis Cabanis (8 March 1816 – 20 February 1906) was a German ornithologist. Cabanis was born in Berlin to an old Huguenot family who had moved from France. Little is known of his early life. He studied at the University of Berlin from 1 ...

defined the genus ''Cyanocompsa'' in 1861, giving it its current binomial name. The blue bunting is the only member of its genus. It has four subspecies, the nominate ''Cyanocompsa parellina parellina'', ''C. p. beneplacita'', ''C. p. indigotica'', and ''C. p. lucida''. The last is sometimes included in ''C. p. beneplacita''.Brewer, D. (2020). Blue Bunting (''Cyanocompsa parellina''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.blubun.01 retrieved May 17, 2021

Description

The nominate subspecies of blue bunting is long. Males weigh and females . The nominate male is various shades of blue, sky blue on the forehead and cheek, blackish blue on the upperparts, ultramarine on the rump, and the underparts from chin to belly deep blue. The adult and immature females are overall dull browish, with a reddish tinge to the belly. The immature male is overall gray-blue with a browish wash on the belly. Compared to the nominate, the ''C. p. beneplacita'' male is a duller blue and the female paler and with less of a reddish tinge on the belly. The male ''C. p. lucida''s blue is between those of the nominate and ''C. p. beneplacita'' and the sky blue covers more of its head. The female is similar to that of ''beneplacita''. The male ''C. p. indigotica'' is dull indigo on the darker areas and cerulean on the lighter ones; the female is lighter brown than the nominate.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of blue bunting is the most widespread. It occurs from

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

in eastern Mexico south and east through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador into northwestern Nicaragua. ''C. p. beneplacita'' is mostly confined to Nuevo León in northeastern Mexico, though it occasionally wanders into Texas and Louisiana. ''C. p. lucida'' is found in northeastern and eastern Mexico. ''C. p. indigotica'' ranges in western Mexico from Sinaloa south to

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

and Chiapas. The blue bunting inhabits dense vegetation such as scrubby areas, thickets, and the undergrowth and edges of tall forest. In elevation it ranges up to in Mexico and to in Guatemala.

Behavior

Feeding

The blue bunting forages singly or in pairs through low vegetation. Its diet has not been described.

Breeding

Little information published about the blue bunting's breeding phenology. Nests have been described; they were cups made of rootlets and other fine plant material and placed in bushes. Clutches were of two and three eggs.

Vocalization

The blue bunting's song is "a sweet, rather sad warble

Its call is a metallic not

Status

The IUCN has assessed the blue bunting as being of Least Concern. It is fairly common and " ems able to accept moderate modification of habitat."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2226631 blue bunting Birds of Central America Birds of Mexico Birds of the Sierra Madre Occidental Birds of the Sierra Madre Oriental Birds of the Sierra Madre del Sur Birds of the Yucatán Peninsula Birds of Belize Birds of El Salvador Birds of Guatemala Birds of Honduras Birds of Nicaragua blue bunting blue bunting