Painted Redstart

Myioborus pictusOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Wood Warblers (Parulidae)

General

Painted Redstart: Medium-sized warbler with black hood and upperparts, and bright red breast and belly. Wings are black with large, white patches. Tail is black with thick, white edges. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has black breast and belly.

Range and Habitat

Painted Redstart: Breeds in southern Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas; spends winters south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Preferred habitats include pine or pine-oak woods, oak canyons, and pinyon- and juniper-covered high slopes.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"cheery cheery cheery chew", "cheereo"

Interesting Facts

Painted Redstarts are unusual amongst birds, and especially amongst warblers in that the female is capable of singing just as well as a male, and during spring courtship a pair will often bond by singing together.

It is the only member of its genus that regularly occurs in the United States.

Despite its common name, it is not closely related to the American Redstart. Members of its genus are sometimes known as "whitestarts" to distinguish them.

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

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.

Painted Redstart

Painted Redstart: Medium warbler with black head, upperparts, bright red breast and belly. Wings are black with large, white patches. White arc beneath eye. Tail is black with thick, white edges. It only eats insects, and forages for them on the ground and in trees. It also catches them in flight.

● Song: "cheery cheery cheery chew", "cheereo"

● Foraging & Feeding: Painted Redstart: Eats mostly insects. Gleans food from leaves, tree trunks, and branches; also hovers while picking insects from foliage, and hawks over water.

● Breeding & nesting: Painted Redstart: Three or four creamy white eggs, with brown specks at large end, are laid in a grass nest with a fine grass or hair lining, and built in a ground hollow. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Painted Redstart: Slate-throated Redstart has dark gray wings, upperparts, and face.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering flights of short duration.

● Range & Habitat: Painted Redstart: Breeds in southern Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas; spends winters south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Preferred habitats include pine or pine-oak woods, oak canyons, and pinyon- and juniper-covered high slopes.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationFairly common to common

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.3 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America