0 the lazuli bunting , passerina amoena , is a north american songbird named for the gemstone lapis lazuli .
1 the male is easily recognized by its bright blue head and back (lighter than the closely related indigo bunting), its conspicuous white wingbars , and its light rusty breast and white belly .
2   the color pattern may suggest the eastern and western bluebirds , but the smaller size (1314 cm or 55.5 inches long), wingbars , and short and conical bunting bill quickly distinguish it .
3   the female is brown , grayer above and warmer underneath , told from the female indigo bunting by two thin and pale wingbars and other plumage details .
4 the song is a high , rapid , strident warble , similar to that of the indigo bunting but longer and with less repetition .
5 lazuli buntings breed mostly west of the 100th meridian from southern canada to northern texas , central new mexico and arizona , and southern california .
6   on the pacific coast their breeding range extends south to extreme northwestern baja california .
7  they migrate to southeastern arizona and mexico .
8  their habitat is brushy areas and sometimes weedy pastures , generally well-watered , and sometimes in towns .
9 these birds eat mostly seeds and insects .
10  they may feed conspicuously on the ground or in bushes , but singing males are often very elusive in treetops .
11 this bird makes a loose cup nest of grasses and rootlets placed in a bush .
12  it lays three or four pale blue eggs .
13  in the eastern and southern part of its range , it often hybridizes with the indigo bunting .
