Country Ecology: American redstart

In researching birdlife, I commonly come across little known facts that fascinate me. Looking up information on the American redstart, one of the most beautifully plumaged of our woodland warblers, I found it uses its brilliant colored patches to freak out insects in the understory foliage, fluttering like a butterfly, and driving them up from their hiding places so it can eat them.

The redstart’s tail is often held partly fanned out, and these birds have been observed flashing the orange and yellow of their tails, on and off, to startle and chase insects from the underbrush. These insects are usually caught by flycatching, but American redstarts also have been known to catch their insect prey by gleaning it from leaves. This is a very active species.