like a rich jewel

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"Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear; 

Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!"

Shakespeare's peeping-tomish Romeo was speaking of his fair Juliet as he watched her on her bedroom balcony, but he perhaps—could he not—have been waxing poetically over an indigo bunting?

As Juliet's glow stood out in the night, even from a great distance, the deep blue indigo stands out like a rich jewel. Perched high on its own balcony.

And you do not have to be a voyeur to see it, but it helps. 

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bluer than blue

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Things are not always as they appear. Sometimes, what is blue is black

A walk at Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge last Sunday morning turned up numerous indigo buntings. Beaucoups. Or in this case: bluecoups. And it's a luminous color like none other, but are the feathers really that blue? At times, these common songbirds seem to look black.

The feathers of indigo buntings are structured differently from other feathers. They refract light, splitting into color wavelengths like it has passed through a prism. The feather structure gleans out blue light and projects it outward.

In full sun, the feathers of the indigo bunting appear brilliant indigo, bluer than blue, but on cloudy days or if they're backlit, the feathers loose their color and appear to be a drab black.

Perhaps this is why male indigos prefer to perch on the tippy-top of a tree or shrub in full sun to sing for all to see. Hidden inside the foliage, they're as dark as the shadows around them.

- Photo by Dan Pancamo

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sunny fields

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Cindy Spangler e-mailed me. She wondered: were the fields of sunflowers blooming at Forks of the River Wildlife Management Area?

And, yes indeed, they are. TWRA didn't seem to plant as many fields as they have in the past. But the one beside the Will Skelton Greenway at mile marker 2.75 is just beginning to reach full flower.

I took the above photo Wednesday after work. I also heard one white-eyed vireo and a lone common yellowthroat, but the two species still singing often and loud were indigo buntings and field sparrows. Perhaps the latter simply enjoyed the sunflowers, and was simply singing an "Ode to Joy."

And who could blame it?

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