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Common Redstart

Common Redstart

Phoenicurus phoenicurus

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The Common Redstart is a small chat famous for its vivid orange-red tail, which it constantly quivers. Males have a slate-grey head and back, a white forehead, a black face and throat and an orange breast; females are grey-brown and buff. It nests in holes in open woodland across Europe and western Asia and winters in Africa south of the Sahara.

Did you know?

  • “Start” is an old word for tail, and phoenicurus means “red-tailed” in Greek.
  • Redstart nestlings can thrive even with a cuckoo chick, which helps keep the brood warm.

Voice

Song
Call

About the species

Identification

The male has a rusty-orange breast and tail, a greyish head and back, a black throat and face and a white forehead. Females and young are brownish but also have the orange-red tail; they lack the white forehead and black throat. It often shivers its tail. It is told from Black Redstart by the male's orange breast and paler, warmer tones.

Family

Turdidae

Size

Small (sparrow)

Colours

grey, orange, black, white, brown

About the habitat

Open, mature woodland – dry pine forest, birch and oak woods – with sparse undergrowth and old trees with holes; also parks, orchards and gardens.

Diet

Mainly insects and spiders – moths, beetles and their larvae – often caught in short sallies; berries late in the season.

Behaviour

Perches in open spots and sallies out to catch insects, often quivering its tail. The male sings a short, melancholy phrase ending in a varied twitter, often from treetops and sometimes at night in May. It nests in tree holes and nest boxes. Males arrive slightly before females in spring. It is often parasitised by the Common Cuckoo.

Sources

Photo: Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phoenicurus phoenicurus male(js) (cropped).jpg

Sound: Benoît Van Hecke, XC792344, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/792344

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC1176908, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/1176908

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_redstart

See also