Habitat

In Michigan, shrubby and weedy habitats between woods and field, thickets, shrubby swamps, upland areas of old fields, upland woods and mesic woods of sugar maple (Acer saccharum) (Payne 1989, Payne and Payne 1998). Scarce in wooded swamps with tamarack (Larix laricina); when these woods were decimated in 1990s by larvae of larch casebearer moth (Coleophora laricella), buntings held territories in more open sites where not seen in earlier years (RBP).

Common in fields in vegetational succession from cultivation to shrubby habitat, establishing territories only in sixth and seventh years after cultivation and returning to those ares for > 30 yr; appear to respond to presence of dense, upright woody vegetations for song perches and cover (Lanyon 1981). In forested West Virginia, more numerous in shrubby sites than in sapling sites; found in canopy gaps where trees defoliated by gypsy moths (Lymantria dispar) (Bell and Whitmore 2000). In managed forest in Missouri, appeared in cleared habitats the year after forests were cut, and were abundant 3–4 yr afterwards (Kabrick et al. 2004). In Arkansas where plots of different sizes were cleared 6–7 yr earlier, Indigo Buntings settled and bred both in large plots and in shrubby clearings < 0.4 ha in area (Alterman et al. 2005). In dry western Great Plains, found in wooded floodplains and ravines; in isolated populations in southwest U.S., found in brushy canyons and wild rose. In much of range, seek out edges of woods and fields, cut-over woodlands, abandoned fields and roadsides a few years after lands are cleared (eg. Suarez et al 1997, Yahner et al. 2002).

Generally absent in urban and suburban areas, in intensively cultivated and grazed areas, in closed-canopy forests, and in deserts except around shrubs near waer (Sutton 1959, Taber and Johnston 1968, Yahner et al. 2002).

In western North America, habitat much as in Lazuli Bunting along wooded rivers in Great Plains (Short and Sibley, Sutton 1967, Emlen et al.1975, Baker and Boylan 1999 . In Utah in Zion National Park, both species are in brushy side canyons, the Indigo Buntings in brushy vegetation and Lazuli Buntings on flood plains along river (Wauer 1997).

Open grasslands, bushes, and leafy trees, much as in winter. In early autumn when leaving the breeding grounds and in spring when arriving in breeding area, they feed on insects and buds in deciduous shrubs and trees. Flocks appear in open grassland and lawns, in tall standing seeded grasses. In migration in the semi-arid southwest, occur in lowland vegetation (Trautman 1940, Russell 1964, Johnston 1965, Taber and Johnston 1968, Wauer 1973, Margoliash et al. 1994).

In Veracruz, Mexico, feed in flocks of 10-50 birds in winter; in spring in grasslands with scattered trees (Lowery and Dahlquest 1951, Rappole and Warner 1980). In Yucatán, grasslands and low thickets, near human settlements where these habitats occur (Paynter 1955, Tramer 1974). In Chiapas, all kinds of grasslands including maize and rice (Alvarez del Toro 1980). In Oaxaca from 20 Oct-28 Apr., common in lower elevations near sea level and uncommon at higher elevations (to 2,300 m) in Atlantic and Pacific regions, in grazed land, cultivated land, and brushy clearings (Binford 1989). In Belize, in rice fields, fallow fields, roadside brush, second-growth scrub, grassy citrus plantations and forest edge (Mills and Rogers 1992, Jones 2004). Small flocks (10-40 birds) feed in cultivation near Belize City (Russell 1964), and large flocks (hundreds) feed in harvested rice fields (where hundreds were banded, BBL) and flock in roadside marshes (RBP). In Cuba and Isla de Pinos, in open forests, teak (Tectona grandis) and screw-pine (Casuarina) and busy areas, feeding on ground (Wallace et al. 1996, Garrido and Kirkconnell 2000).