Indigo Bunting 2011

When I was a child, my Grandmother Smith would take me on Sunday morning spring bird walks at Forest Park Nature Center in Peoria with a group of 12 or so people.  At age 10, I was by far the youngest.  One of the birds that the leader would point out  was Indigo Bunting.  For some reason, my young eyes never saw it.  Since INBUs favor the best highest branch in the tops of trees, they were usually too far up or obscured for me to see.  But I wanted to see him so desperately!  The field guide my grandmother gave me had a beautiful plate of this bright blue bird.  With more practice I learned to see INBUs a little more easily.  In the shade they appear rather dark, but in the sunlight their blue color gleams intensely. With some luck I was able to photograph these guys in an old oak savanna at the Nachusa Grasslands.  There were at least 4 males constantly darting around each other in the lower branches, singing their little hearts out.