Passerina amoena

(Say,1823)

Order                 :Passeriformes

Family               :Cardinalidae

Genus                :Passerina

Species              :Amoena

Subspecies         :---------

Explanation of the name:

The name comes from the Latin “Lapis Lazuli” which is a blue lazuli rock the old Greeks used to make juwels. The Latin species name “amoena” means charming, lovely, nice to watch.

Description:

The Lazuli Bunting measures 4.5 inches (the female is a little smaller), has a small conical bill and white wing bars. The adult male has a deep blue head and upper parts, a brown (orange) breast, a white belly and blackish wings and tail.The female is completely brown with dark brown upperparts and warm brown underparts. The female also has white (pale brown) wing bars. Somethimes there is confusion between the female of the Lazuli Bunting and the Indigo Bunting. The Indigo does not have the pale wing bars, it has bars but they are much smaller.

An immature male looks like a female. Then suddenly it starts to get blue patches, a brown-orange chest and it becomes mature (can take up to 2 years).

Habitat:

The Lazuli Bunting breeds west of the 100^th length degree from South Canada to Northern-Texas, New Mexico, Southern California and Baja California. It is a migratory bird that spends winter in Arizona and Mexico. It lives in the edge of woods, in the lower vegetation in bushes along rivers and (sometimes) in parks and in suburbs. It is a rather anxious bird that likes to live in areas not visited by humans.

Behaviour:

The Lazuli Bunting feeds with seeds and (small amounts of) insects. The male spents his time singing on his lookout to defend his territory and to attract females. The females arrive some days to two weeks later in the breeding areas, choose a male and start breeding immediately. Afterwards the female helps defending the territory.

In august they leave their breeding area and migrate in large groups to the south-west of the USA and to Mexico. They spend winter in groups, together with Indigo Buntings and Painted Buntings.

Breeding in the wild:

The female makes the open-cup nest near to the ground in a bush. She lays 3 to 4 eggs. The length of incubation is 12 days. The length to fledge is approximately 11 days. Normally it has 2 to 3 broods. The young birds are fed with insects. Sometimes a Lazuli Bunting breeds with an Indigo, this results in hybrids in the wild.

Breeding in cages:

The best way to get breeding results is to keep one couple in a cage. You can keep them together with other birds provided there are no other Passerinas (males). The males are very territorial against familiar bids, in the wild and in captivity.

You can breed them in cages of 1 by 2 by 2 meters but smaller cages will also do fine. They have to become familiar with the environment so you have to couple them in time eg. during winter, as a result, when the breeding season arrives they are used to the evironment (and the birder).  In bigger cages (eg. 3 by 2 by 5 meters), you can keep them together with African and Australian finches, provided there are not too much birds. Don’t keep them with European finches or canaries, the males will fight with as a result no breeding results.

To prepare nestling one can give them alive food (insects). Frozen insects are fine but better results will be obtained if one combines this with alive insects (mealworms, buffalo worms, waxmots, ...). In commerce, food is available to feed the insects with so the birds will get enough vitamines and minerals. Try to give them a variation of insects, go catching insects with a net or insect catcher or try to find them in the garden. If the insects could fly away, put them in the freezer for some minutes until they are numb.

They nestle in reed baskets and use coconut threads (sisal) but also grass, animal hair, paper strips,... Try to give them as much variation as possible. Put the baskets on hights between 1 and 2 meters (if possible)Sometimes they build a nest in a low bush of bamboo if they have the possibility to do so.

A nest consists of 3 to 5 eggs. Only the female breeds the eggs and she does so during 12 days. The young birds are fed with alive food (insects) by the female and the male. Be careful with mealworms and give only the white ones (the ones getting a new skin). Too much mealworms will result in swollen bellies and sick or dead birds. On day 5 one can ring them with a ring of 2.7 mm, be in time because they grow very fast. At the age of 10 days, and not yet being able to fly, they leave the nest. The parents continue to feed them during 3 weeks. Afterwards they can take care of themselves an you have to remove them.