Fall Vagrancy of the Indigo Bunting in Northern Ontario

As a nesting species, the Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) is found throughout southern Ontario, ranging north in northern Ontario to approximately Smooth Rock Falls (Cochrane District), Kenora (Kenora District) and Thunder Bay (Thunder Bay District).Although the Indigo Bunting is a widespread and common nesting species in the south, in northern Ontario it is absent from large areas between the above listed sites (Figure 1), and is very uncommon and local even within much of the specified range.As a fall migrant in southern Ontario, the species is a well-known early migrant, with the majority of birds having departed by late September (see Beardslee and Mitchell 1965:416-417; Sprague and Weir 1984:124).In northern Ontario, most breeding birds probably depart before early September, but actual observations have rarely, if ever, been reported.As a result of numerous fall field trips to northern Ontario by the author and others, a number of Indigo Bunting observations have been obtained that represent birds that were at, or well beyond, the known breeding range of the species, and were observed on dates which are very late for the species.In this paper, these records are presented along with additional records, principally obtained from other observers who live in northern Ontario.Probable origin and a discussion of these records is also given. The RecordsA total of 20 records involving 20 birds have been assembled which pertain to late fall occurrences of Indigo Buntings in northern Ontario (Table 1).Of seven birds that could be aged and/or sexed, four were immatures, two were immature females and one was an adult male.Birds observed in the field were considered immatures if they showed fairly obvious, buffy wingbars and/or diffused streaking below, while the bird identified as an adult male (in winter plumage) lacked wing bars and streaking below, but showed obvious blue tones on the rump and flight feathers.The 20 birds were found on dates ranging from 20 September to 24 November, with 19 of these birds first recorded between 20 September and 1 November.It should be noted that for the three birds that stayed after 1 November, and for the single bird first recorded on 11 November, all were at bird feeders and, as such, had probably been artificially induced to linger.

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