Indigo Bunting Fallout, Sanibel, FL

Indigo Bunting, male

feasting on fig fruits

 Indigo Bunting, female, she needs a napkin

When the light shines a certain way, the blue is electric

They were all over the ground also. How many buntings can you find in the photo?

Birders looking up at the native plantings at the Sanibel Lighthouse.

There were also Blue Grosbeaks, another blue bird but they are larger than the indigos and have rust colored wing bars.

Here a male (r.) and female (l.) Blue Grosbeak who have just crossed the Gulf of Mexico and landed in the sea oat grasses at the edge of the beach. A big congratulations to them for making it!

Everywhere you looked there were beautiful, blue, Indigo Buntings at Sanibel Lighthouse park, Sanibel FL. Hundreds of them had come in off the Gulf of Mexico that they have just migrated across. Landing on the ground and in the fig trees the hungry migrants devoured the fruits and seeds. Blue fallout, a birders dream!
In addition to the buntings we also saw Blue Grosbeaks, orioles, kingbirds, warblers, swallows and more. Migration has been great and more is to come.