Surely you have seen an interesting bird, with a rather unusual plumage. Sitting on a branch, she performed her short, somewhat nasal song. She is the same size as a sparrow, but the color of her plumage is slightly different, and her behavior is different. This is a garden redstart, which can be found in summer cottages, gardens, forests, city parks and even in fields.
Males and females are somewhat different from each other. The plumage of the male is gray-brown, with the exception of the chest, which is painted in dark red tones, and the front of the head, which is completely black. But the bird’s tail is bright red. Hence the name - redstart. The color of the female is more modest, with the exception of the tail, which remains bright red. The chicks are also colored like the female. The average weight of an adult bird is 17 grams. The male is slightly larger than the female.
The redstart is a migratory bird. With the onset of cold weather, it flies to warmer regions, and in the spring it returns to its nesting sites. First, the males appear, looking for a convenient place to build a nest, and vigilantly guarding it from rivals. With the arrival of females, pairs are created. From this moment on, both future parents are involved in protecting the nest. The height of the mating season occurs in the first days of May. Sitting on the treetops, males perform their mating song. You can hear it from early morning until late evening, until the beginning of July.
Empty hollows with a wide entrance hole, or other natural voids (cracks in urban buildings, recesses in trees, niches in rotten stumps, places under slate, attics, voids in the ground, cracks under roots, etc.) are used as nests. Birds do not disdain the artificial structures that humans build for them. In this case, the nest can be located both on the ground and at a decent height, up to 10 meters. The inside of the nest is covered with dry moss, feathers, and pieces of birch bark, and the outside is covered with dry grass and small branches. If this is a hollow, then the role of litter is played by wooden dust. Eggs are laid on it. Nest construction is the prerogative of the female. The male does not take part in this matter.
The female's clutch consists of five to seven eggs. They are very small, weighing only two grams. Eggs are laid once a year, in early June. The female incubates them for two weeks. Both parents feed the hatched chicks. Birds feed on: small insects, butterflies, sawfly beetles, larvae, caterpillars, spiders, berries. Growing chicks need plenty of food. Their parents, during the day, can make up to 390 flights to buy food for their babies. The highest feeding intensity is observed in the morning and evening hours.
For the first few days, only the male feeds the offspring. At this time, the female does not leave the nest and warms the almost naked chicks. On the third or fourth day, both parents carry the food. Young redstarts become independent on the 15th day. They begin to fly and leave their parents. True, over the next week, they can still use their services.
With the onset of autumn cold weather, bird migration begins. In September you won't see them anymore.
The genus Redstart includes 13 species, most of which live in the Himalayan regions, penetrating into China, Southeast Asia, and spreading widely in India. Most of our redstarts are either mountain forms or forest forms, but have retained hidden connections with the mountain landscape. It is more correct to include only the common and Siberian redstarts as typical forest redstarts.
The common redstart, or coot, is a typically European species. It inhabits all of Europe, Western Asia and, covering the forest belt of our country, except for the northernmost taiga forests, reaches east to Lake Baikal. Only one, the most cold-resistant subspecies, is rapidly spreading to the east. In Russia, the common redstart prefers pine forests everywhere, populating both dry high-trunk forests and subori mixed with rich grass and shrub layers. This distinct relationship reveals the evolutionarily important relationship of the common redstart with the mountain pine forests of Europe. It is in pine forests that the redstart population apparently reaches its limits, although in most areas this bird usually does not tolerate close nesting of other individuals of its species, actively pursuing and driving them far beyond the nesting site. It is for this species that the concept of “nesting distance” is characteristic, which means that neighboring pairs nest within the hearing range of their songs and extremely rarely, only in particularly favorable and productive places, move on to dense nesting, when the boundaries of the individual areas of neighboring pairs are almost in contact with each other. However, only males show high aggressiveness towards each other. This trait of redstarts is apparently associated with a very characteristic feature for them - the so-called bigamy, when one male has two females.
The common redstart clearly avoids dark coniferous (spruce-fir) forests, but in general its nesting places are very diverse. It nests along the edges of forests, in burnt areas, in clearings rich in stumps, in old groves, gardens and parks, but everywhere only where it finds suitable shelter for itself. Common in all forested settlements, as well as in well-greened towns, villages and villages. Willingly occupies artificial nests. The Caucasian subspecies is considered a typical bird of mountain forests, which indicates a close connection with the mountains even of this species, widespread in lowland forests.
Old males are the first to arrive at nesting sites. In central Russia they appear in mid-April, but the mass arrival of redstarts (especially females and young males) is observed in early May. Immediately upon arrival, males begin searching for hollows and other places suitable for nesting. Moreover, old, very dark and densely colored males occupy the best areas of the forest (near the edges of forests, along the edges of clearings, clearings, wide sandy roads, with old, sparsely standing or single pine trees, shrubs), clearings, vegetable gardens and orchards. Such places, complex in terms of rock composition and conditions, always become the scene of massive raids of redstarts, often engaging in a desperate and lengthy struggle for the best areas. Old males often try to capture areas with several hollows or other places convenient for nesting. For the common redstart, the acquisition of a hollow is the main event of nesting life. Perhaps none of our other hollow-nesting birds guards a hollow with such steadfastness and constant fear of losing it. This is also confirmed by the fact that many, even very dark old males, stay close to the nest throughout the first part of the nesting period and constantly return to it. We can safely say about many males that before the clutch appears, they can even sing on one branch in the immediate vicinity of the hollow. The ideal ecological microstructure for the common redstart, or its ideal microstation, is a very small area next to a hollow with bare sandy, clayey or rocky ground. The basic diagram here is as follows: a hollow or gap - a branch or twig, preferably near the hollow itself - several convenient low perches (posts, branches or stones on the feeding area) - clean, free from grass and bushes, preferably a sandy feeding area, which was good the hollow would be visible. Many elements of this pattern were inherited by this forest species from its mountain ancestors.
In the middle zone, common redstarts prefer to nest at distances significantly greater than the size of their nesting area. We will designate this distance as the nesting distance. At the nesting distance, it is still possible for males to communicate with each other through song. This, in turn, gives them a sense of the integrity of the settlement, some kind of intraspecific community. Within the nesting distance of each pair, several ecological or functional zones are distinguished. Moreover, in the redstart such structures turn out to be very complex and multifaceted. Let's consider these symbolic structures, starting from the biological center of the site - from the hollow or nest (crack). In the first days of arrival, the male guards the hollow with maximum tenacity. Around it is the zone of the most active singing, often as if compressed to the limit, up to several square meters around the hollow, or even reduced to one dry branch or twig. Around these two centers there is also a feeding zone, or feeding area, which is extremely narrow in the first days, sometimes located somewhat to the side of the hollow and having clearly defined boundaries. Behind these zones there is a zone of protected territory, which is also defined. Its boundaries can be accurately delineated by observing the collision of the owner of the site with arriving other males. This is the initial structure of the redstart’s nesting area. With the arrival of the female and the formation of a pair, the expansion of territorial structures begins. Now both birds can guard the hollow. Even if the female does not do this too actively, she can still notify her male with an alarm signal if a stranger appears. These days, the male usually expands the singing area, although not too much. The feeding area is also gradually expanding. Both birds often feed 10-15, and sometimes 20-30 m from the hollow.
The ritual of the first meeting and formation of a couple is interesting. The pair is formed somewhere on a horizontal tree branch or on a platform. At the same time, sitting down opposite the female, the male takes a horizontal pose that is unusual for him under normal conditions, stretches out along the branch towards the female and, raising his elongated wings upward, emits a kind of strangled gurgling cry. If the female accepts such advances from the male, they fly off together to inspect the nest. In the event that the nesting site chosen by the male or the hollow does not suit the female, she may leave the male.
The locations of the nests of the common redstart are very diverse. They can be found from ground level to a height of 8 m, and sometimes higher. Redstart nests are found in hollows and semi-hollows, sometimes simply in shallow potholes and niches in a trunk or in the forks of large branches, in crevices, cracks of trees and stumps (often open at the top), sometimes in piles of brushwood, behind the windows, under the roofs of buildings, in cracks in walls and woodpiles. Redstarts readily inhabit nest boxes.
Only the female builds the nest, in the spring for 6-7 days, and later, at the beginning of summer, for 4-5 days. Redstarts nest in the middle zone from late April to early June. The material used for the nest is quite varied. Under natural conditions, the nest is built from dry stems crushed by the bird itself, bast fibers, pieces of bark from various trees, and leaves. She often brings a lot of thin films of pine bark, pine needles, etc. to the nest. The tray is lined with wool, hair, and feathers. In populated areas, these materials are often supplemented with various rags, pieces of paper, cotton wool, threads, scraps of rope and tow, which the female diligently plucks from the lining of house logs.
The redstart's basic loud, short, squeaky song is quite simple. It often resembles a quiet neigh or a muffled laugh: “and-three-three.” It consists of 4-5 creaking or grinding sounds and stands out well among the songs of other birds. But this is only the first impression of the redstart song. Upon careful study, it turns out that at the beginning of the mating season, behind a loud short song, the redstart produces a quieter short sub-song. The song of the common redstart is a special world of sounds, full of the most incredible secrets, charm and charm. Redstarts weave into this sub-song many alien sounds borrowed from other species. The older, more experienced and talented the male, the richer and more unique the set of imitons in his subsong. Moreover, ordinary redstarts reproduce these alien sounds with amazing sensitivity and purity. In the subsongs of especially talented males, we counted up to 40 species of birds, the signals of which could be unmistakably identified. There were finches, sparrows, warblers, siskins, lentils, wagtails, robins and tits, flycatchers, warblers, jays, starlings and many other birds. Only the best imitators can compare with the common redstart in the richness of their imitations: starlings, song thrushes, warblers. However, for them these sounds are included in a loud song, while for our redstart this entire fabulous grandiose world is hidden in a quiet sub-song. You can observe how, when a willow warbler, green warbler, robin or other bird appears near a singing male redstart, in response to the calls of these birds, the redstart increases the frequency of playing such variants of its song, at the end of which calls or fragments of songs of the individuals that appeared next to it are heard. However, not all redstarts do this. In some, mostly young males, imitative subsongs are reproduced in the usual random mode. It is possible that such situations only indicate that at the moment the male redstart is simply not in the mood to enter into vocal and psychological contact with this bird.
The usual loud songs of the common redstart are also not as monotonous as they seem at first. Each male has several strictly fixed types of song, each of which he, like a tape recorder, reproduces without the slightest change. These songs can be relatively varied. The geographic ranges of individual classes and song types (or variants within a class) vary widely. The laughing song covers vast areas. In addition, in the repertoires of individual males there are special imitative songs, also with rigidly fixed patterns, which are based on fragments of songs of some other birds - robins, willow warblers, pied flycatchers, etc. Common redstarts use such loud imitative songs when the quiet sounds of imitative sub-songs are insufficient to establish the necessary interspecific connections with a bird of another species. Such connections are not only negative (repulsion or scaring away an unwanted partner). They can also carry a positive meaning - a feeling of closeness and unity of partners in the settlement. These positive functions of imitative songs are especially clearly manifested in years of low bird numbers, when redstarts, finches, robins, warblers and flycatchers, oppressed by the silence of the spring forest, deliberately flock closer to each other, sometimes moving away from their hollow or nesting site to considerable distances, for in order to sing next to each other and mutually feel the “feeling of elbow”.
The alarm signals of the common redstart are a short and clear whistling sound and a quiet, often hasty clicking or crackling sound. These urges are always shouted out one by one, "Whee...Whee...". This is a general alarm signal. Clicking and crackling noises may occur frequently. A bird can easily and endlessly change its signal patterns. The crackling sound of a redstart is a high alarm signal. Its free combinatorics allows it to reflect the slightest shades of the bird’s emotional state, and through them accurately reflect the slightest changes in the external situation. Rare cods - weak alarm, more frequent - increasing alarm, iridescent almost continuous waves of cod - maximum alarm or threat to the nest. Switching to a less frequent crackling sound - a predator or other dangerous object is moving away from the nest. From the first days of arrival until the appearance of fledglings or chicks in the hollow, the main alarm signal is a whistle. Only in the most difficult situations (when a cat appears) can you hear a crackling sound these days, usually interspersed with individual whistles: “wheet... tr-tr... whee-tr-tr-tr....” After the chicks have fledged, the main signal is a crackling sound. But even these days, endless swimming cod are usually interspersed with whistles. When maximum danger appears (the cat sneaks up on the chick or even grabs it), usually one of the parents (most often a male, but sometimes a female) emit endless waves of crackling sounds, flitting over the predator that alarmed them.
Full clutches of redstarts of 6-7 blue eggs are found in May - June. The clutch is incubated mainly by the female after laying the last egg for 13-14 days. In the first days, the female flies off every hour to feed for a few minutes, and when returning to the hollow, she turns the eggs over. If the female is absent for more than 15 minutes, a nearby male sits on the clutch and flies off the nest when the female returns. From time to time the male feeds the brooding female. Chicks hatch more often at the end of May - the first ten days of June in 1-2 days. They are born, like many other birds, blind and deaf. According to E.S. Ptushenko, with 5 chicks, the number of food deliveries starts from 40 and reaches 368 per day by the end of the nesting period. With 6 chicks it starts from 94 and goes up to 470 per day. The chicks are fed by both parents for 12-14 days in the nest. During the first days, the female warms the chicks a lot on the nest, and the male feeds both the chicks and the female. Then, as the chicks grow, the female begins to bring food much more often than the male. In cases of bigamy, when one male has two females with two nests, the male usually flies to one of the nest boxes much less often than to the other. In this nest he feeds both the female and the chicks less often. There are cases when in the second nest the chicks are incubated and fed by one female alone. Sometimes in both nests the male feeds both females and chicks equally. In central Russia, the mass emergence of common redstart chicks occurs in June. The chicks leave the nest at the age of 13-15 days, not yet able to fly. For 4-5 days, the parents feed them in the immediate vicinity of the nest, then another 3-4 days not far from the nest. The chicks begin to fly 7-8 days after they leave the nest. At this time, some couples, leaving the chicks, begin the second clutch.
The young of the first brood wander for some time near their nesting sites, and then, joining with the second broods (if any appear), stay along the outskirts of the forest, in places with dense undergrowth, often not far from water and in the river area. The migration of redstarts begins at the end of August and continues in September. Individual individuals, mostly old birds, sometimes linger until the first ten days of October.
The redstart feeds mainly on insects, which it most often looks out for and grabs from a perch (a branch or post located not high from the ground) or even sitting on a pebble near a piece of bare leveled (often sandy) area, a well-trodden path or near the road. In these clean areas, the bird vigilantly looks out for emerging prey. It often grabs prey from the foliage of trees and bushes, and sometimes catches insects flying from the ground. But still, like all thrushes, it apparently collects most of its food from the ground. The chicks are fed on small soft insects and spiders, mainly spiders, flies, mosquitoes, caterpillars and small beetles. In autumn, redstarts collect berries (red elderberry, black currant, etc.).
Common redstarts winter in Central Africa and the south of the Arabian Peninsula.
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Many in childhood heard a fairy tale about how a small bird with a flaming tail flew to hungry, freezing people and saved the unfortunate ones by giving them fire. This is a fairy tale about a redstart - one of the most remarkable birds from the passerine order and the flycatcher family.
Young redstart. The most common species is the common redstart, also known as the coot redstart or garden redstart. The bird is famous for its unusually bright tail plumage and interesting manner of twitching its tail, which makes it seem as if its tail is engulfed in a bright flame.
What does a redstart look like?
The size of the “forest phoenix” usually does not exceed 10 - 15 cm, and its body weight is about 19 g. Its modest size is more than compensated for by its bright plumage, so it will not be difficult to spot the bird in the forest and get wonderful photos of the redstart. The back and head of the birds are ash-gray, the abdomen and tail are fiery red, many specimens have a white forehead, which is probably where the name “balt” comes from. The female can be distinguished by the brownish color of her plumage.
The redstart's beak is wide at the base, flattened and slightly elongated, well adapted for catching insects on the fly. The length of the wings reaches 8 cm with a span of about 25 cm. Mobile and active, redstarts are on the move all day, constantly twitching their extraordinary tail, then they freeze for a few seconds and again fly from branch to branch, hunting for insects.
Young redstart after swimming. 
A male redstart sings a song about love. 
Adult male common redstart: front view. 
Adult male common redstart: rear view. 
An adult male common redstart. 
Juvenile Common Redstart. Where do redstarts live?
The bird's range extends across Europe, Asia and North-West Africa. Redstarts prefer forests and forested areas, avoiding sparse areas; they are extremely rare in forest-steppes.
Redstarts winter in the southern part of their range, and with the onset of warm weather they return to European territory. The arrival of birds depends on the weather: in April insects wake up - their main source of food, and then “tongues of flame” - redstarts with their remarkably bright moving tails - begin to appear in forests, gardens and parks between the branches of trees.
Birds occupy their individual areas and at this time you can hear their pure melodious singing. They sing even at night, and by the beginning of July they completely calm down.
Like all flycatchers, redstarts hunt mainly in flight, capturing insects flying by. Birds track live ground food from high places - lower branches, stones, eaves of buildings, and then dive for prey. Therefore, the diet of redstarts is extremely varied and includes insects, arachnids, snails, caterpillars and earthworms.
In addition to protein foods, birds eat plant foods, mainly all kinds of berries from wild and cultivated plants.
A redstart looks closely at the elderberries in flight. 
A redstart picks an elderberry in flight. 
Redstart with elderberry. With the onset of autumn, redstarts go to winter in African countries and the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula.
Features of reproduction
In one season, redstarts manage to produce offspring 2 times. The birds begin breeding for the first time in May, choosing a wide variety of shelters for the nest: tree hollows, holes under their roots, they can use voids in wood stacks and even cracks behind the cladding of buildings. Moreover, it is possible to discover a redstart nest purely by chance; from the outside it is usually skillfully camouflaged.
The female lays 5 - 8 rich blue eggs and incubates the clutch for about 15 days. For two weeks after birth, the chicks do not leave the nest and feed at the expense of their parents. In mid-summer, young birds make their first flights, but their parents accompany and feed them for about a week. Then the family breaks up, the young redstarts begin to live independently, and the parents begin the second clutch.
The redstart fed the chick a dragonfly. 
Under favorable conditions, the life expectancy of a redstart is from 7 to 9 years.
The redstart is rightfully considered one of the most beautiful small birds in the European part of Russia. Small, the size of a sparrow, painted in contrasting gray and fiery red colors, this feathered beauty is a true living decoration of the parks, gardens and forests of Eurasia. And the name “redstart” itself comes from the characteristic habit of representatives of this species to twitch their tail, which at this time resembles a fire flame swaying in the wind.
Description of redstart
Redstarts belong to the flycatcher family of the order Passeriformes.. These birds are widespread throughout Eurasia, as well as in the north, where they willingly settle in forests, parks and forest-steppes.
Appearance
The redstart is a bird not exceeding in size. The length of its body does not exceed 10-15 cm, and its weight is 20 grams. The wingspan of this bird is approximately 25 cm. In its build, the redstart also resembles an ordinary sparrow, but it is more graceful and bright. It has a not too large body in the shape of a slightly elongated oval with a narrowed end, a proportional, relatively small head with a beak similar to a sparrow's, but slightly more elongated and thin.
The eyes are dark and shiny, bead-like. The wings are not long, but quite strong. The tail in flight resembles a half-opened fan, and when the bird sits on a branch or on the ground, its tail also resembles a fan, but already folded.
This is interesting! In some species of redstart, mainly living in Asia, the plumage on top is not grayish, but bluish or bluish, which creates an even greater contrast between the cold tone of the back and the warm orangish tint of the bird’s abdomen and its reddish-red tail.
The legs of the redstart are thin, dark grayish or black, the claws are small but tenacious: thanks to them, the bird can easily hold on to the branch.
Behavior, lifestyle
The common redstart is a migratory bird: it spends the summer in Eurasia and flies to Africa or the Arabian Peninsula for the winter. Typically, the autumn migration of this species, depending on the part of the range where these birds live, begins at the end of summer or in the first half of autumn and occurs approximately in mid-August - early October. Redstarts return to their homeland in April, and the males arrive several days earlier than the females.
These bright birds nest mainly in tree hollows, but if this is not possible, they build nests in other natural shelters: in potholes and crevices of trunks or stumps, as well as in the forks of tree branches.
This is interesting! Redstarts have no preference regarding the height of the nest: these birds can build it either at ground level or high on the trunk or in the branches of a tree.
The construction of the nest is most often done by one female: she constructs it from various materials, including tree bark, dried stems of herbaceous plants, foliage, bast fibers, pine needles and bird feathers.
Redstarts are known for their singing, which is based on a variety of trills, similar to the sounds made by other bird species, such as the flycatcher.
How long do redstarts live?
The lifespan of a redstart in its natural habitat does not exceed 10 years. In captivity, these birds can live somewhat longer.
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism in this species is pronounced: males differ significantly from females in color. As a matter of fact, it is precisely thanks to the males with their contrasting grayish-red or bluish-orange coloring that the bird got its name, since female redstarts are colored very modestly: in brownish shades of varying lightness and intensity. Only in some species of this genus the females have colors almost as bright as the males.
This is interesting! Females cannot boast of such a bright coloring: on top they are grayish-brown, and only their abdomen and tail are brighter, orange-red.
Thus, in a male common redstart, the back and head have a darkish gray tint, the abdomen is colored in a light red tint, and the tail is colored in intense, bright orange, so that from a distance it seems to be burning like a flame. The bird's forehead is decorated with a bright white spot, and the throat and neck on the sides are black. Thanks to this contrasting combination of colors, the male redstart is noticeable from a distance, despite the fact that these birds are not large in size.
Redstart species
There are currently 14 species of redstarts:
- Alashan redstart
- Redstart Redstart
- Grey-headed Redstart
- Redstart
- Common redstart
- Field redstart
- White-throated Redstart
- Siberian redstart
- White-browed Redstart
- Red-bellied Redstart
- Blue-fronted Redstart
- Gray redstart
- Luzon Water Redstart
- White-capped redstart
In addition to the above listed species, there was a now extinct species of redstart that lived on the territory of modern Hungary in the Pliocene era.
Range, habitats
It starts from Great Britain and reaches all the way to Transbaikalia and Yakutia. These birds also live in Asia - mainly in China and in the foothills of the Himalayas. Some species of redstarts live as far south as India and the Philippines, and several species are found even in Africa.
Most redstarts prefer to settle in a forest zone, be it temperate broad-leaved or humid subtropical forest: both ordinary and mountainous. But these birds do not like coniferous thickets and avoid them. Most often, redstarts can be found on the edges of forests, in abandoned gardens and parks, as well as in cleared forests, where there are many stumps. It is there that these small birds prefer to live: after all, in such places it is easy to find natural shelter in case of approaching danger, as well as material for building a nest.
Redstart diet
The redstart is a predominantly insectivorous bird. But in the fall, it often feeds on plant foods: various types of forest or garden berries, such as common or chokeberry, currants, and elderberries.
This is interesting! The redstart does not disdain any insects and over the summer destroys a huge variety of pests, such as click beetles, leaf beetles, bugs, various caterpillars, mosquitoes and flies. True, beneficial insects such as spiders or ants can also become victims of this bird.
However, redstarts bring enormous benefits by destroying various garden and forest pests. In captivity, these birds are usually fed both live insects and special surrogate food.
Reproduction and offspring
As a rule, males return from wintering several days earlier than females and immediately begin searching for a place to build a nest. To do this, they find a suitable hollow, a hole in a tree trunk, or even just a pile of dead wood lying on the ground. The bird does not leave its favorite place and does not allow rivals to approach it, who could take it away.
After the females arrive, the courtship ritual begins. And then, if the chosen one is satisfied with both the male and the place chosen by him, she builds a nest and lays five to nine bluish-green eggs in it. On average, a redstart spends about 7-8 days building a nest, as it approaches this matter thoroughly.
The female incubates the laid eggs for exactly 14 days. Moreover, in the first days she leaves the nest for a short time to find food, and when she returns, she turns the eggs over so that they do not lie on one side, as this interferes with the normal development of the chicks. If the female is absent for more than a quarter of an hour, then the male himself takes her place until she returns.
If eggs laid by birds or unfledged chicks die for some reason, then a pair of redstarts makes a new clutch. Redstarts are born completely helpless: naked, blind and deaf. For two weeks, parents feed their offspring. They bring small insects to the chicks, such as flies, spiders, mosquitoes, caterpillars and small beetles with a not too hard chitinous cover.
This is interesting! At first, until the chicks have fledged, the female does not leave the nest, as otherwise they may freeze. At this time, the male brings food not only for the offspring, but also for her.
In case of danger, adult birds begin to fly from one branch to another, emitting loud, alarming cries and, thereby, trying to drive away the predator or divert its attention to themselves. Two weeks after their birth, the chicks, who cannot yet fly, begin to leave the nest, but do not go far from it. Their parents feed them for another week until they make their first flight. And after little redstarts learn to fly, they finally become independent. Redstarts apparently reach sexual maturity towards the end of their first year of life.
Adult birds, after the chicks have left their native nest, make a second clutch of eggs, thus, during the warm period, redstarts manage to hatch not one, but two broods. At the same time, they lay the last clutch for that summer no later than July, so that all their chicks have time to fledge and learn to fly well by the time they fly away for the winter. What is even more interesting is that these birds are not a monogamous species and, moreover, a male can simultaneously “maintain relationships” with two or even more females. At the same time, he takes care of all his broods, but in different ways: he visits one nest more often than others and spends more time there than in others.
Description of the bird
The size of the redstart is 10-15 cm, but the wingspan at full swing reaches 25 cm. Body weight does not exceed 20 grams.
What does it look like
The redstart can be easily recognized, it is small bird with a red tail. A distinctive feature of redstarts is the color of the tail and abdomen; they are rich red, the back is gray. Despite this, females are browner in color. During the flight from branch to branch, the redstart characteristically twitches its tail, which seems to flare up with bright fire in the sun's rays, after which it freezes. The redstart was so named because of the rich color of the tail, it seems to be “burning” (The tail is burning).
Kinds
Among the redstarts, there are several different species, which include: gray-headed redstart (common), black redstart, Siberian redstart, red-bellied redstart, coot redstart, garden redstart. At the same time, they are all distinguished by a slender physique, an awl-shaped beak with a small one at the end, and long and thin legs.
Redstart
The black redstart or black redstart is often found in Europe and central Asia. It is smaller than a sparrow and weighs 14-19 grams. The male has dark gray upper plumage; forehead, frenulum, cheeks, neck and crop black; the tail is rusty orange with black speckles. At the same time, the female has a uniform grayish-brown tint, with the exception of the red uppertail and light red undertail.
The following birds live in mountain landscapes:
- rocky niches
- on the ledges of cliffs
- on slopes with a scattering of pebbles
They are also found in populated areas, where they are most often located in industrial and construction zones, open areas with individual buildings such as factory chimneys or church domes. Black redstarts live alone and in pairs.
In Ukraine, the black redstart is considered a nesting, migratory bird species that is found throughout the country.
The singing is very primitive and rough with hoarse elements, like that of wheatears. At the beginning, a short hoarse trill is heard, the volume of which gradually increases, and after that a rough, long trill is formed. In black redstarts, the melody can be repeated several times in a row.
Grey-headed or common redstart
The Grey-headed or Common Redstart is one of the beautiful birds. However, only the male can boast of luxuriously colored plumage, because the female’s plumage is poorer. The color is brown, but the tail is bright red. The male has an ash-gray back plumage, his chest, belly, sides and tail are painted in a rusty-red hue, but his throat and cheeks are black. Also sometimes the male has a white forehead.
The common redstart lives in northwestern Africa, Eurasia and most of Russia.
Despite the external differences, the common redstart is also distinguished by its sonorous singing. At the beginning, the trill is frequent and sonorous, but over time the frequency of the trill decreases.
Garden redstart
The garden redstart prefers to build nests only in trees, which are located in old orchards and parks. At the same time, he prefers to live away from people. The garden redstart is also found in tall mixed forests and coniferous forests, where there are always dense shrubs.
The male garden redstart has an ash-gray upper body and a black throat, sides and forehead. In addition, the upper part of the head and the middle of the lower part of the body are white. The chest, sides and tail are bright rusty red. Unlike males, females are dark gray in color, but the lower part of the body is gray. The gray feathers of the underparts are also edged with rusty yellow.
The singing of the garden redstart is euphonious and rich. The singing contains melodic and gentle stanzas. Despite this, the redstart is a wonderful and shameless mockingbird, so it often interprets other people's songs.
Redstart Coot
The coot redstart is a small slender bird on high thin legs. These are very active birds, so they fly from place to place all day, twitching their charming tail.
The singing of the coot redstart differs from others. The song consists of a short, somewhat nasal trill, which begins with an extended sound and ends with a call that is sharply different from the middle of the song.
Siberian redstart
The Siberian redstart is found in light forests, bushes, gardens and even some villages in the south of Siberia, the Amur region and the Prigorye region. In this case, nests are built in hollows, rock cracks, piles of stones or under the roof of buildings.
The male Siberian redstart has a light gray color on the top of the head and neck, the sides of the head, throat, back and wings are black, but there is a white spot on the wings. The belly and tail are bright red. The female is similar to the female common redstart. Her plumage is brown, but her tail, like that of the male, is bright red. In addition, she also has a white spot on her wings.
Red-bellied Redstart
The Red-bellied Redstart is very similar to the Siberian Redstart, but is larger and more brightly colored. The male has a reddish-brown chest, but the female has a reddish abdomen and no white spot on the wings.
It lives in the highlands of the Central Caucasus and Southern Siberia, but winters in the lowlands - in sea buckthorn thickets or floodplain willows.
Spreading
The redstart is a typical European bird species, so its distribution area is quite diverse. Found in Europe, most of Western and Central Siberia and Western Asia. They mainly prefer to settle in pine forests. However, the main nesting sites are still forest edges, stumps in clearings, old groves, gardens and parks. In addition, redstarts prefer to nest in shelters where nests are safely erected. Nests are made in hollows, on thick tree branches, in dense bushes and old stumps.
Reproduction
Most redstarts have a clutch of no more than 6-7 eggs, which are colored bright blue. The eggs are incubated exclusively by the female. After 2 weeks of incubation, the chicks are born, after which for another 2-3 weeks both parents bring food to the chicks. Chicks begin to fly a month after hatching. The chicks leave the nests after they grow up and learn to fly, but they roam close to the nest. Young animals are located near ponds and in thickets of bushes. A distinctive feature of redstarts is that during the summer some pairs lay 2-3 clutches.
Nesting
Nests are built in closed and inaccessible places. At the same time, the nests are constructed in a careless manner and are cup-shaped. To build redstarts, they use a variety of dry stems of herbaceous plants, wood fibers mixed with leaves, moss and pieces of bark. After that, bedding is placed in the nest, consisting of wool, feathers and pieces of leaves. The dimensions of such a nest are small: diameter - 110 mm, height - 90 mm, tray diameter on average 90 mm, tray depth 40-70 mm.
In addition, in the forests there are often special houses for redstarts, made by human hands. However, the house should be made only from high-quality material suitable for birds. It is best to use skipped boards for this - slab or edged, the thickness of which is 2-2.5 cm. In this case, the board should be planed only on the outside of the house.
It is better to make the house the optimal size:
- height - 20-25 cm
- bottom – 12 by 12
- the internal bottom area is 15-20 sq.cm
- patch diameter - 3-4 cm
- the distance from the bottom of the tap hole to the bottom is 10-12 cm
- from the top of the taphole to the ceiling - 4-5 cm
It is also worth remembering that redstarts are partial to diamond-shaped houses, so you can attach them at an angle. In addition, in the summer the house is directed to the west or south, the main thing is not towards the wind.
Redstarts are also kept at home. They live well in cages. However, it is not recommended to keep several redstarts in one cage at once, because they fight, often until the death of their opponent.
What does it eat?
Common redstart / Phoenicurus phoenicurus / Redstart
The redstart feeds exclusively on insects - flies, mosquitoes, beetles, caterpillars, spiders. They are also not averse to eating berries - currants, elderberries and raspberries. In autumn and winter, redstarts pay attention to fruits and seeds. If you keep redstarts at home, you should feed them both live and surrogate food for insectivorous birds (Padovan).
Migratory bird or not
The redstart lives in many countries. It is most often found in Southeast Asia, almost throughout Europe, as well as in China, India and Russia. However, in the fall, most of them go to the southern parts of the Arabian Islands and Africa for the winter.
Singing
- Redstarts sing around the clock, but are especially active in the morning and late evening.
- Often the redstart is also called coot, kaluferka, and mountain redstart.
- Redstarts look like, because, like them. wiggle their tail up and down.
- The redstart got its name because of the color of its tail, which seems to be burning in the sun’s rays.
- Cuckoos often leave their eggs in the nest of redstarts, which take care of them as if they were their own.
- The male redstart hunts exclusively while flying, while the female searches for food on the ground.
