Such records are rare as hen’s teeth. Thus, on Jan. 4, the birding communication networks lit up with news of a lazuli bunting that was discovered by Moses Troyer in rural Meigs County.

According to the Audubon Society, the lazuli bunting is common in the West in the summer. A map shows that its range, even when migrating, doesn't usually go past the Great Plains.

The lazuli bunting, in contrast, looks like plugged-in high-wattage gemstones — turquoise lapis up top, a moonstone belly and red jasper on the breast. The bird doesn’t actually glow in the ...

The lazuli bunting is closely related to the well-known and equally beautiful deep blue indigo bunting of the east and Midwest. In fact, there has been some hybridization where their ranges ...

A lazuli bunting, known for living on the West Coast, visited the bird feeder at Meigan Madden Rocco’s Flanders, Long Island home to the pleasant surprise of bird lovers near and far.

Lazuli buntings migrate through Texas from winter homes in Mexico during the spring, from April through May, and normally follow a route from the Trans-Pecos to the Panhandle.