Common Redstart

Can be confused withSource

• Black Redstart — Black Redstart shares the red tail, but the male is sooty-black (not grey with a white forehead and red breast); female and juvenile are darker and lack the Redstart's pale buff-white underside and white throat.
• European Robin — Robin has the red on face and breast — not the tail — is rounder and does not quiver its tail; the Redstart's hallmark is exactly that shivering red tail.

Plumage and variationSource

Male and female: Marked sexual difference in breeding dress: the male grey/black/white with an orange breast, the female plain grey-brown; both with a rusty-red tail.

Summer and winter: In fresh autumn plumage the male's black and grey markings are veiled by pale feather fringes, making him resemble the female; the fringes wear away to the clean breeding dress by spring.

Juvenile: Juvenile is spotted and scaled like a young Robin but gives itself away by the rusty-red tail.

VoiceSource

A short, melancholy phrase beginning with a few clear whistles and ending in a jangly, blurred flourish; call a soft "hweet", often followed by a clicking "tk-tk".

BehaviourSource

Perches upright and makes short sallies for insects; ceaselessly quivers the red tail. Open broadleaf woodland, parks, old gardens and hedgerows.

When and whereSource

A common breeder and very common passage migrant; a summer visitor from April to September that winters in tropical West Africa.

Facts

RelativesSource