When I see a male Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea), I immediately know what I’ve seen. No doubt about it.

The female of the species though is another story. Plain brown, with just the very slightest suggestion of maybe wing bars. No eye ring. From allaboutbirds.org, “Females are basically brown, with faint streaking on the breast, a whitish throat, and sometimes a touch of blue on the wings, tail, or rump.” That, “sometimes a touch of blue” is no joke. Can you see any blue on this bird in the above picture? So that “sometimes” means sometimes it is there, sometimes it is not. This is a female Indigo Bunting. This is what birders would call the classic LBJ or Little Brown Job.

And this, another female Indigo Bunting, does indeed have a bit of a touch of blue on her wing edges. Can you see it?

Here another photo of a female Indigo Bunting, with a hint of blue. Mighty subtle! One other hint: The bill is short, thick, and conical, very dark on the top, pale gray on the bottom. Always glad to see the ladies.