Female indigo bunting in breeding condition, recovery band noted at Hays Woods,

25 August 2026

Last week at the Hays Woods banding station, Bird Lab captured a female indigo bunting who was banded almost a year ago, 9/6/2025, on the Canadian side of Lake Erie at Rock Point Provincial Park. Nick Liadis described her journey in Pittsbirder Chat which I’ve quoted below. Her history makes for an intriguing mystery.

Here’s her map with two capture locations: Rock Point (red pin) and Hays Woods (red circle at Pittsburgh) with speculation on where she spent the summer of 2025.

• At Rock Point, Ontario in early September 2025 she was already an adult and was molting on a slightly early schedule.
• At Hays Woods in the third week of August she had a brood patch and was not molting yet.

Data points for female indigo bunting at Hays Woods plus speculation on where she spent the summer of 2025 (marked up map from Google Maps. Pin drop is Rock Point Bird Observatory)

Nick describes what this means:

We are at Hays Woods and captured a foreign recap—a bird someone else banded. These are even rare for banders that run 50+ nets so it’s special that our 16-net operation has seen a handful (like the waterthrush from the suburbs posted earlier).

This Indigo Bunting was banded on 09/06/2025 as an adult in Ontario. Today she has a Brood Patch which tells us she bred here this year. Site fidelity for indigo buntings is complex so there are definitely some cool questions to ask about this bird!  …

She was banded in 2025 as an AHY (“After Hatch Year” = adult). … Assuming the banders aged her After Hatch Year like one would [age] an adult bird that has completed their post breeding molt, she may have failed [breeding] last year. Which may explain why she completed her post breeding molt so much earlier. Today she hadn’t started her post breeding molt.

That may also explain why she is here. According to my cursory reading of the literature, female indigo buntings that fail breeding in a given year may emigrate from that breeding location the following year.

Yesterday at Hays Woods Charity Kheshgi and I found a male sunning and singing from a tree close to Bird Lab’s banding area. Considering that it’s August we were a little surprised that “Mr. Blue” was singing. Maybe he has a family nearby? Maybe he’s her mate?

Male indigo bunting, Hays Woods, 24 Aug 2026 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

If only she could speak I’d ask her …

How did you find Hays Woods and choose to nest here this year? And where did you spend the summer of 2025, Mrs. Blue?