Priorities for Future Research

There are no molecular genetics studies of regional variation, and data on nuclear genes are needed to estimate rates of gene flow between regional populations. The extent of hybridization of Indigo Bunting and Lazuli Bunting should be determined with molecular genetic markers, as some of the described hybrid buntings, both in the field and in museum specimens, may be first-year male Indigo Buntings with pale wing bars and pale underparts. Females are more difficult to distinguish to species. Molt and plumage sequences should be followed in banded birds on their wintering ground to determine details of molt in field conditions and the extent of molt versus wear in the development of breeding plumage. Additional studies of molt in captive and banded wild birds are needed across bunting species, to determine norms of reaction within environmental factors as well as the homologies of molts and plumages. Difference in number of extra-pair matings estimated in genetic comparisons of parents and offspring, and observed in extra-pair copulations, deserves further study; the genetically effective copulations may occur when females visit other males' territories. More studies are needed to compare males' response to neighbors' songs, matching and not matching, depending on their age and stage of nesting.