American Redstart

Setophaga ruticillaOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

Codes: Common Name: AMRE Scientific Name: SETRUT ITIS Taxonomic No.: 178979

American Redstart: The breeding male has glossy black upperparts and hood, distinct orange-red patches on wings and shoulders, a long fanned tail, and white underparts.

American Redstart Variations

1st Summer
American Redstart

Female
American Redstart

Breeding Adult
American Redstart

1st Spring
American Redstart

Birdman Mel's Backyard Tips

Overview

American Redstart: Medium, active warbler with black upperparts and hood, distinctive orange-red patches on wings, sides, and long, fanned tail, and white underparts. Bill, legs, and feet are black. It frequently flashes its colorful wings and tail to flush insects from foliage.

Range and Habitat

American Redstart: Breeds from southeastern Alaska east to Newfoundland, and south to northern California, Colorado, Oklahoma, northern Louisiana, and South Carolina. Spends winters in southern Texas and southern California and points south into the tropics. Preferred habitats include second-growth woodlands.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"chewy-chewy-chewy, chew-chew-chew"

Interesting Facts

The American Redstart is referred to as "the butterfly of the bird world" because of its quick fluttering motions and bright orange color on the wings and tail.

They are known by some in the tropics as the "latrine bird" because of their tendency to look for flies around outhouse and garbage dumps. They are also known there as the "Christmas bird" because they appear in the region around Christmas time.

They are unrelated to the Old World redstarts, but get their name from the male's red tail, start being an old word for tail.

A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including "a bouquet of warblers", "a confusion of warblers", "a fall of warblers", and a "wrench of warblers."

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

American Redstart

● Song: "chewy-chewy-chewy, chew-chew-chew"

● Foraging & Feeding: American Redstart: Feeds on insects, spiders, caterpillars, berries, fruits, and seeds. Often pursues flying insects by dropping from perch. Has flycatcher-like bristles around bill and competes for food with the Least Flycatcher, which may aggressively attack redstarts.

● Breeding & nesting: American Redstart: Two to five white or pale green eggs, marked with brown and gray, are laid in a compact cup of grass, bark shreds, plant fibers, and spider silk, often decorated with lichens, and lined with fine grass and hair. Nest is usually built in a tree or bush 10 to 20 feet above the ground. Female incubates eggs for 12 days.

● Similar species: American Redstart: None in range.

Flight Pattern

Weak flight on rapidly beating wings.

● Range & Habitat: American Redstart: Breeds from southeastern Alaska east to Newfoundland, and south to northern California, Colorado, Oklahoma, northern Louisiana, and South Carolina. Spends winters in southern Texas and southern California and points south into the tropics. Preferred habitats include second-growth woodlands.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationCommon to fairly common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.3 Ounces

Perching-like Body

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

American Redstart

American Redstart Variations

Birdman Mel's Backyard Tips

Overview

Range and Habitat

Topo Map: Perching-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

Interesting Facts

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Related Birds

American Redstart

Flight Pattern