The Indigo Bunting is a small bird that breeds in eastern North America and migrates toward Central America for winter. Breeding males are bright blue.
Breeding males appear blue overall, while females and young birds are mainly brown.
Researchers studied bird nests on 14 native warm-season grass pastures at three Mid-South U.S. sites from 2014 to 2016. They compared rotational grazing with patch-burn grazing, using 2014 as a pretreatment year before grazing treatments began.
Indigo Bunting daily nest survival was 0.92 (SE = 0.01), and estimated nest success was 22%, with a 19 ± 5 day nesting cycle. Researchers monitored 334 nests across three sites on 14 pastures of 9.7 ha each. Daily nest survival did not differ between rotational and patch-burn grazing. All three species selected nest sites with taller vegetation.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Nest survival did not vary by grazing strategy, while Indigo Buntings tended to choose taller vegetation for nesting. The authors highlight variation in vegetation structure as a consideration for grassland management.