Introducing Indigo the Bunting: Your Songbird

The UDNF is proud to introduce Indigo the Bunting, a symbol created by and for the undiagnosed community. We know that for those of you still searching for answers – still navigating tests, specialists, symptoms that do not fit neatly into one box – it can feel incredibly isolating.

We wanted to give you a meaningful symbol that represents your story and experiences living with an undiagnosed disease. A symbol to rally around for advocacy and connection, because you are not alone in this.

Now, there’s Indigo the Bunting, a small songbird with brilliant indigo feathers and shimmering silver-tipped wings and beak. Indigo represents the mystery of undiagnosed diseases, the search for answers, and the hope that science brings.

Indigo is a symbol to carry your voice when words are hard to find. A symbol that speaks of resilience, mystery, and hope. One that invites connection, sparks curiosity, and reminds you: you are not alone.

Why Indigo? Why Silver? Why a Bunting?

Indigo was designed with care and intention by those in the undiagnosed community to reflect the complexity of life without a diagnosis and the hope of a future that leads to a diagnosis and treatment. 

Created by Dana Sayer, UDNF Patient Navigator and our talented visual storyteller, Indigo carries the heart of this work. As Dana  passionately said, “I want to see my participants take off and soar.”

Indigo buntings for the path of uncertainty and discovery.

In the shadows, male indigo buntings appear black or gray, nearly invisible. But when the sunlight hits just right, their feathers shine a brilliant indigo. It reminds us that even when the answers aren’t visible, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Sometimes, it just takes the right light, a new perspective to see it.

Indigo buntings are nocturnal navigators. They have been shown to orient their migrations by the patterns of stars, even without previous migration experience. When there is no map, they follow the stars and create their own path. Undiagnosed patients and their doctors often end up on their own path in the search for a diagnosis. 

They navigate vast unknowns by instinct and trust. So do you. You navigate unfamiliar systems, uncertain diagnoses, and shifting symptoms—and you keep going. And just as a bunting’s true colors emerge in the right light, symptoms can begin to make sense when seen through the right diagnostic lens. That’s why this songbird belongs to you.

Indigo for the mystery.

Indigo sits between blue and violet on the color spectrum, mirroring the uncertain space between symptoms and diagnosis.

Indigo is often described as a color that’s seen differently by everyone. Some will see blue. Some will see purple. Some will see the in-between indigo. Much like how symptoms are interpreted, missed, or argued over when looked at through different lenses.  

Look around in nature, and you’ll have a hard time finding indigo. It’s one of the rarest colors in nature. Some undiagnosed individuals may spend years or even a lifetime looking for their diagnosis because it is so rare that they are a patient of one.