3. BLACK REDSTART

Muscicapidae

Phoenicurus ochruros

Size 15cm M/F dimorphic

CHARACTERISTICS : I saw this orange and black passerine in my cousin’s garden next door in February this year, mostly sitting atop some chopped branches kept in a pile. It hopped around in his garden for some 2 months and then he was gone. It has a peculiar trembling tail which is forever moving. That has earned him the name Thirthira Kampa (Hindi), Phirphira, Lal-girdi (Bangla). Apparently, the Black Redstart is a creature of habit and returns to the same place in the same season every year. I will be looking out for him next winter in my cousin’s garden for sure. The male has black upperparts and breast, and rufous underparts whereas the female has dusky brown underparts with an orangish tinge to flanks and vent, and brownish grey upperparts. 

FOOD: It forages for insects on the ground and occasionally captures one in the air too.

Distribution: A winter migrant to the plains,  during winter the Redstart is seen throughout the Indian subcontinent and Myanmar but not in Sri Lanka.

Breeding : It breeds in the Tibetan Steppe type habitat, ie all along the Himalayas, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northwest Africa.

Some Interesting Facts : 

• The Black Redstart was earlier classified in the Thrush (Turdidae) family but now it is called a Muscicapidae ie. an Old World flycatcher.

• The Western subspecies (gibraltariensis) of this bird has a blackish belly.                       

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