Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus)

Male Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) in Le Sappey, France. April 2015. Not baited. Not called in.

The Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) is a small and beautiful passerine, much more rare than the Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) here in Canton of Geneva.

I took the picture above in Haute-Savoie, France, in my friend's garden one morning, as I was looking for some bird action. After a while I see this male Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) on top of a pile of branches. It left after only a few seconds so I thought I would try to stay still and wait for him to come back. Right when I was thinking I should come back in the house with my friends, it came back on this tree and sang for several minutes. A memorable birding moment for sure!

Common Redstarts feed essentially hunting insects on the ground, waiting to find their next meal from a nearby perch. For that, they prefer land where the grass is cut really short. To sing, males usually go on the highest part of a tree.

Love Nature.
Jonathan