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 generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

in the family

Cardinalidae Cardinalidae (sometimes referred to as "cardinal-grosbeaks" or simply "cardinals") is a family of New World-Endemism, endemic passerine birds that consists of Cardinalis, cardinals, grosbeaks, and Passerina, buntings. It also includes several ot ...

, the cardinals or cardinal grosbeaks. It is found in

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern 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 maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of 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 by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

Taxonomy and systematics

French naturalist

Charles Lucien Bonaparte Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857) was a French naturalist and ornithology, ornithologist, and a nephew of Napoleon. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal ...

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. He worked at the bird collections of the Natural History Museum in Berlin becoming its first curator of birds in 1850. He founded the ''Journal für Ornithologie ...

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 brownish, with a reddish tinge to the belly. The immature male is overall gray-blue with a brownish 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, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

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 Nuevo León, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León, is a Administrative divisions of Mexico, state in northeastern Mexico. The state borders the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí, San Luis ...

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 Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities, and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales. It is located in northwest Mexic ...

south to

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

and

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

. 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 Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leav ...

. 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 The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

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