In breeding plumage, the male has a blue-purple sheen on black feathers, with brown wings and tail. It searches the ground for small grass seeds in grassland and rough cultivation.
The breeding male has bluish-purple gloss on black plumage, brown upper wings and tail, and a usually concealed white flank spot.
It uses overgrown cultivation, tall grass with scattered bushes, and vegetated stream sides, foraging on small grass seeds on the ground. A Boston University project notes that host-song mimicry can help identify indigobirds when plumage alone is difficult to use.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.