Painted Redstart

Overview

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.

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.

INTERESTING FACTS

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.
It is the only member of its genus that regularly occurs in the United States.
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.
A group of warblers has many collective nouns, including a "bouquet", "confusion", "fall", and "wrench" of warblers.

The Painted Redstart has a large range reaching estimated at roughly 1,100,000 square kilometers. This bird can be found in the United States, Mexico, Canada, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, and its preferred habitat includes tropical and subtropical forest areas. The global population of this bird is estimated to be between 500,000 to 5,000,000 individual birds. Currently, it is not believed that the population trends for this species will soon approach the minimum levels that could suggest a potential decline in population. Due to this, population trends for the Painted Redstart have a present evaluation level of Least Concern.