Lazuli Bunting

BirdNote^®

Jewel of the Canyons: Lazuli Bunting

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote!
     We’re hiking along a path [Footsteps] in a canyon in the West in late May. Tall serviceberry bushes explode with tiny white flowers. Chokecherry branches bend beneath the weight of their long clusters of blooms. The sweet smell of bitterbrush wafts in from the wildflower-covered hillsides. Amid this floral splendor, an unseen bird sings a bouncy, cheerful song.
[Lazuli Bunting song]
     Let’s find the singer. Scan the top of the bushes. Keep your eyes peeled for a sparkle of turquoise. [Lazuli Bunting song] There it is! A Lazuli Bunting. A tiny jewel of a bird, sitting atop a spike of elderberry, tipping its head back and singing.
[Lazuli Bunting song]
Its head and back glint an iridescent blue, its breast is a rich coral. These colors declare the Lazuli Bunting might just have inspired the Navajo artists.
     In summer, you’ll find these beautiful singers in the brushy canyons of the West. [Lazuli Bunting song] And where the Lazuli Bunting sings, you’ll often hear the music of Vesper Sparrows and Western Meadowlarks.
[Western Meadowlark song – Vesper Sparrow song]
With such a chorus at hand, you may find it hard to leave the canyon.
[Song of Vesper Sparrow and Lazuli Bunting]
Today’s show brought to you by The Bobolink Foundation. I’m Mary McCann.

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Bird sounds are provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Lazuli Bunting [111055] song recorded by T.G. Sander. Western Meadowlark [23045] song recorded by W.R. Fish.
Song of the Vesper Sparrow recorded and provided by M. Stewart, naturesound.org                            Ambient recorded by C. Peterson
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2013 Tune In to Nature.org  May 2018/2020    Narrator: Mary McCann
ID#    052907LABUKPLU    LABU-01b