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Framed between a male Indigo Bunting (top left) and a male Lazuli Bunting (bottom row; taken 24 May 1998), this male bunting banded at Big Sur R. mouth, Monterey Co., California, 13 June 1996 was thought to be a hybrid or intergrade "because, in addition to white belly, it had a darker blue head than rump, a very thin rufous breastband (<5mm wide at widest), very thin whitish wingbars, blue feathers on center of breast below the breastband, and blue undertail coverts" (quote from Roberson, 2002, Monterey Birds 2d ed.).
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PHOTOS: Indigo by Bruce Sorrie, from Massachusetts in 1970s (I think; from my teaching collection); middle three shots of apparent hybrid 13 June 1996 © BSOL (photos by Jim Booker, I think); Lazuli (bottom two) taken at BSOL 24 May 1998 © Don Roberson. It is noted that the three middle shots are overexposed and that the thin orange breastband is therefore washed out and not easy to see. It is also noted that a check of the original slides shows that the dark or blue dots on the underparts of the May 1998 Lazuli appear to be disarranged feathers and not actually blue spots.