National Butterfly Center, 2/12/26

I ran over to the National Butterfly Center to see what was flying.  But I was also thinking about buntings and was soon in the ditch behind the feeding staton hoping for the Lazuli Bunting Tiffany found a couple of weeks ago.  No buntings but this Black-and-white Warbler put on a show.  I've not seen any wintering ones around lately so this may be an early spring migrant.

An Olive Sparrow bathed nearby.

Green Jays were causing trouble at the feeding station.

I told a photographer about my Black-and-white Warbler and he was eager to see it.  We could't find it but a surprise Green Kingfisher hunting in the ditch made up for it.  Despite being unusually tame I could never get a clear shot.

I saw the Audubon's Oriole several times.  But I don't know if the photog packing his Canon R5 and 400mm f2.8, a $15-20k rig, ever got a shot.  It's a lot easier for a birder to turn into a photographer, than the other way around.  The knowledge of bird behavior and how to stalk them really makes a difference.

The Wilson's Warbler was making the rounds but she stayed in the shade.

Orange-crowned Warblers are easy to approach on near the butterfly bait logs.

Black-crested Titmice were cooperative.  Sometimes they're not.

Only 80's and 90's in the weather forecast so we may be having and early spring.  Just heard they saw two Gray Catbirds at Estero.  Rain would sure be nice but none is due.

Lazuli x Indigo Bunting Hybrid at NBC, 2/8/266

Two weeks ago Tiffany Kirsten's Nature Ninja birding tour found a male Lazuli Bunting at the National Butterfly Center.  I went out there the next day and got distant looks and poor photos of a bluish bunting with white wing bars in the ditch behind the feeding station.  At the time I assumed I was looking at the Lazuli Bunting.  But later examination of the sketchy photos proved it to be hybrid Lazuli x Indigo Bunting.  Then the cold weather hit and I spent some days chasing birds and yesterday I finally went back to the National Butterfly Center to enjoy the warm spring weather and look for butterflies.

After chasing butterflies a while I eventually found myself back in the "ditch" and thinking about buntings.  Last year's summer rain produced a good crop of exotic Guinea grass and wintering buntings enjoy the seeds.  Sure enough the little blue guy with white wing bars shows up again but this time closer and I got OK photos.

Though the males of Indigo Buntings and Lazuli Buntings have different plumages, they are closely related and hybrids from the intersecting ranges of the two taxa are not rare.  Here are typical male Indigo and Lazuli Buntings from South Padre Island.

Hybrids can produce an array of phenotypes depending on dominant traits and whether they are F1 from pure parents or F2 back cross with a pure parent and a hybrid parent or some other combination involving hybrids.  

I would not be surprised if Tiffany's original Lazuli Bunting is still around and I will keep my eyes open for it.