Your bird is indeed a male Indigo Bunting in the background. They always have a bit of blue in the fall, usually in the flight feathers and tail feathers. I kinda miss those bright, turquoise retrices!
I believe your excellent Nashville Warbler is a male, though the white eyering isn’t as bright as many. And I certainly enjoy your ho hum chickadee, when we never get tits on offshore Islands like Galveston. [Of course, while currently in Paris, we have many species of tits, including my favorite, the Great Tit.]
This helps me miss Tallahassee and the resurgent Noles. Beat Miami!
I would remind birders that one of the great days of the year is coming soon: The first cool front in October will immediately bring hordes of small songbirds, many racing eastward as my dad described as “Peninsular Migrants” in the early fifties. Birds like flickers and Palm Warblers will be headed *around* the Gulf, at the same time as so many others are feeding in place, waiting for sundown to venture across the trackless Gulf of MEXICO. Try to be there AS SOON AS the weather begins to change, or you will miss the astounding appearance.
For the next six weeks I will be exploring and photographing Madagascar’s fantastic birds, mammals like lemurs, eye-popping butterflies, gaudy treefrogs and fantastic snakes such as huge Hog-nosed Snakes and mighty boas. Those wishing to receive those PDFs from me need only write and ask. Nobody will see your email address and you can get off whenever you like. What an amazing ecosystem it is!
But never underestimate birding in October on the North Florida Coast!
Jim in Paris, briefly
From: 'Tara Tanaka' via NFLbirds <nflbirds...>
Sent: Wednesday, October 1, 2025 3:16 PM
To: <nflbirds...>
Subject: [NFLbirds] Indigo Bunting?
The Nashville Warbler returned yesterday, and while he was bathing a bird that I think was an Indigo Bunting hovered for a few seconds but never landed. Can someone confirm if the bird in flight is an Indigo Bunting?
