Field Marks: 5.5 in. Unmistakable male is one of the brightest North American birds but often stays concealed; greenish female easily told from closely related Indigo, Lazuli and Varied buntings. Nests in thickets, gardens, and open areas with scattered trees and shrubs; also found in light woods, open and shrubby habitats in migration and winter (mostly south of United States). Adult males brightest in spring and summer, have blue head, yellow-green back; wings and tail blackish; rump, eye-ring, and underparts red. Females dull green, paler greenish below with buff or yellowish cast. Immature males resemble females (sometimes with hint of adult pattern) for first year. Song a burry warble, more slurred than songs of other buntings; reminiscent of Warbling Vireo but higher-pitched, softer, with notes jumping less in pitch.
Range: Breeds from se. New Mexico east to s. Missouri and the Gulf Coast; also along southern Atlantic Coast. May wander farther north. Winters from se. Texas, s. Lousiana, and central Florida to Central America.
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