Common Redstart

The Common Redstart is a strikingly colorful summer visitor to open woodlands across much of Europe, named for its bright, constantly quivering orange-red tail — "start" being an old word for tail.

Appearance

Breeding males are vividly patterned: a blue-grey crown and back, a black face and throat, a white forehead patch, and a bright orange-red breast, flanks, and tail, with the belly fading paler. Females and immatures are much duller — plain grey-brown above and buffy below — but share the diagnostic orange-red tail, which both sexes quiver almost constantly.

Key Field Marks

• Orange-red tail, constantly quivered — present and diagnostic in both sexes
• Male: grey back, black face and throat, white forehead patch, orange breast
• Female: plain grey-brown above, buff below, same rufous tail
• Slim build, frequent perching on exposed branches

Similar Species

Black Redstart is darker overall (sooty grey to black rather than blue-grey), favors rockier and more urban/industrial habitats rather than woodland, and males lack the bright orange breast of the Common Redstart, showing instead a dark chest. Female Common Redstarts can resemble female Black Redstarts closely, but tend to be slightly warmer-toned with paler underparts; habitat is often the best initial clue.

Habitat

Common Redstarts favor open, mature deciduous woodland — especially oak woods with a relatively open understorey — as well as parkland, orchards, and large gardens with old trees offering nest holes.

Range and Migration

The species breeds across most of Europe and into western Asia, favoring temperate woodland habitats. It is a long-distance migrant, wintering in the Sahel zone of sub-Saharan Africa, arriving back on European breeding grounds in mid-spring.

Behavior

Redstarts are active, restless birds, frequently perching on an exposed branch and sallying out to catch flying insects, or dropping to the ground briefly before returning to a perch, all the while quivering the bright tail — a habit thought to help flush insect prey or signal to rivals and mates.

Voice

The song is a short, simple, rather melancholic warbling phrase, often ending abruptly, delivered from a high perch in the canopy. The call is a soft "hweet" or a sharper "tucc-tucc," sometimes combined into an alarm rattle.

Nesting and Breeding

Redstarts nest in cavities — natural tree holes, old woodpecker holes, or nest boxes — lining the chamber with grass, moss, and feathers. The female lays 5-7 pale blue eggs and incubates them for about 12-14 days.