Indigo bunting

A bright male Indigo bunting singing in Surprise Canyon, June. They are present in cottonwoods and willows from Chris Wicht Camp (and perhaps lower with increasing vegetation), in the gorge, and up the canyon in riparian forests.

Arnold Small, in California Birds: Their Status and Distribution, 1994 (Ibis Publishing Company, Vista, CA), says:

"The westward range expansion of this bunting has been evidenced by the annual profusion of sightings in California, which averages from 60-75 per year....Singing territorial males in increasing numbers are reported each summer, and a small number of hybrid Indigo X Lazuli buntings hav been observed." Most have been observed in the South Kern River Preserve, Tehachapi Range.