Passerin azuré— Quebec wildlife

The lazuli bunting (Passerina amoena) is a North American songbird named for the gemstone lapis lazuli.

Description

Measurements: Length: 5.1–5.9 in (13–15 cm) Weight: 0.5–0.6 oz (13–18 g) Wingspan: 8.7 in (22 cm) The male is easily recognized by its bright blue head and back (lighter than the closely related indigo bunting), its conspicuous white wingbars, and its light rusty breast and white belly. The color pattern may suggest the eastern and western bluebirds, but the smaller size (13–15 cm or 5–5.9 inches long), wingbars, and short and conical bunting bill quickly distinguish it. The female is brown, grayer above and warmer underneath, told from the female indigo bunting by two thin and pale wingbars and other plumage details.

Diet

They eat mostly seeds and insects. They may feed conspicuously on the ground or in bushes, but singing males are often very elusive in treetops.

Reproduction

It makes a loose cup nest of grasses and rootlets placed in a bush. It lays three or four pale blue eggs. In the eastern and southern part of its range, it often hybridizes with the indigo bunting.