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The Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea, is a small seed-eating bird in the family Cardinalidae. It is migratory, ranging from southern Canada to northern Florida during the breeding season, and from southern Florida to South America during the winter.

The Indigo Bunting displays sexual dimorphism in its coloration; the male is a vibrant blue in the summer and a brown color during the winter months, while the female is brown year-round. The male displays brightly colored plumage during the breeding season to attract a mate. The diet of the Indigo Bunting consists primarily of insects during the summer months and seeds during the winter months.

Taxonomy
The Indigo Bunting is one of seven birds in the genus Passerina and is included in the family Cardinalidae, which is made up of passerine birds found in North and South America. The Indigo Bunting was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae. The genus name, Passerina, is derived from the Latin term passer for true sparrows and similar small birds, while the species name, Cyanea, is from the Latin word meaning dark or sea blue.

Description
The Indigo Bunting is 11.5-13 cm (4.5-5 in) in length and weighing 12-18 g (.4-.6 oz). During the breeding season, adult males have deep blue plumage, with a darker crown which verges on purple. The wings and tail are black with blue edges. In fall and winter plumage, the male is similar to the female, but often retains some blue feather. Adult females are dark brown on the upperparts and lighter brown on the underparts. It has indistinct wing bars and is faintly streaked with dark underneath. Immature birds resemble the females in coloring, but may have hints of blue on the tail and shoulders. The beak is short and conical, and the feet and legs are black or gray.

Distribution and habitat
The habitat of the Indigo Bunting is brushy edges, open deciduous woods, and old fields across eastern North America and the southwest United States. The breeding range stretches from southern Canada to Maine, south to northern Florida and eastern Texas, and westward to southern Nevada. The winter range begins in southern Florida and central Mexico and stretches south through the West Indies and Central America to northern South America.

Behavior
The Indigo Bunting communicates through vocalizations and visual cues. A sharp chip! call is used by both sexes, and is used as an alarm call if a nest or chick is threatened. A high-pitched, buzzed zeeep is used as a contact call when the Indigo Bunting is in flight. The song of the male bird is a high-pitched buzzed sweet-sweet chew-chew sweet-sweet, lasting two to four seconds, sung to mark his territory to other males and to attract females. Each male has a single complex song, which he sings while perched on posts, wires, and bush-tops. In areas where the ranges of the Lazuli Bunting and the Indigo Bunting overlap, the males will defend territories from one another. The Indigo Bunting often migrates during the night, using the stars to direct itself. In captivity, since they cannot migrate, they experience disorientation in April/May and in September/October if they cannot see the stars from their enclosure.

Breeding
The Indigo Bunting nests in dense shrub or a low tree, generally .3-1 m(1-3 ft) above the ground, but rarely up to 9 m (30 ft). These birds are monogamous but not always faithful to their partner. In the western part of their range, they often hybridize with the Lazuli Bunting. The nest is constructed of leaves, coarse grasses, stems, and strips of bark, lined with soft grass or deer hair and is bound with spider web. It is constructed by the female, and the female cares for the eggs alone as well. The clutch consists of one to four eggs, but usually contains three to four. The eggs are white and usually unmarked, though some may be marked with brownish spots. The eggs are incubated for 12-13 days and the chicks are altricial at hatching. Chicks fledge 10-12 days after hatching. Most pairs raise two broods per year, and the male may feed newly fledged young while the females incubate the next clutch of eggs.

Indigo Buntings are occasionally victims of brood parasites, particularly Brown-headed Cowbirds. Indigo Buntings will abandon their nest if a cowbird egg is laid before they have laid any of their own eggs, but will accept the egg after that point. Pairs with nests that are parasitized have lower rates of reproductive success than those which are not parasitized.

Diet
The Indigo Bunting forages for food on the ground or in trees or shrubs. In winter, it often feeds in flocks, but is a solitary feeder during the breeding season. During the breeding season, insects, seeds and berries, including caterpillars, grasshoppers, spiders beetles, and grass seeds. In winter, the Indigo Bunting eats small seeds, buds, and insects when available. The seeds of grasses are the mainstay of its diet during the winter. The young are fed mainl insects at first, to provide them with protein. It does not drink frequently, generally obtaining sufficient water from its diet.