Black redstart
| Black redstart | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Male black redstart ( Phoenicurus ochruros gibraltariensis ) with prey |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Phoenicurus ochruros | ||||||||||||
| ( SG Gmelin , 1774) |
The black redstart ( Phoenicurus ochruros ) is a songbird species from the flycatcher family (Muscicapidae). It is a little smaller than the house sparrow and can be recognized by its rust-orange tail and otherwise dark plumage.
Black redstart are niche breeders and were originally only found in the mountains. The species has only been widespread in the lowlands for about 250 years and can also be found in settlement areas close to humans. The food consists mainly of insects that are caught from a control room mostly on the ground, and more rarely in the air. The black redstart singing is characteristic as the middle part is more like a scratching sound. At the time of day it is one of the first active birds to sing.
The Black Redstarts Western and Central Europe are short-distance migrant and wintering mainly in the Mediterranean region . They leave the breeding area as one of the last migrating species and return early in the year. The black redstart is classified as harmless and is one of the songbird species whose populations in Europe increased significantly towards the end of the 20th century and are still stable.
Appearance and characteristics
With a body length of 14 to 15 centimeters, the black redstart is slightly smaller and, above all, slimmer than the house sparrow . The eponymous characteristics of the genus are the rust-orange colored upper tail-coverts and tail feathers, with the black redstart the middle pair of control feathers being dark brown. This feature is present in all clothing in both the male and the female. The brown-black bill is relatively long, broad at the base and surrounded by quite long beak bristles . The black, slender legs are noticeably long and the posture is upright. Frequent kinks and tail tremors are characteristic of the species. The weight is between 14 and 20 grams, on average 16.2 grams. The wings are relatively long, the wing length of Central European representatives of the species ranges from 85 to 91 millimeters, the wingspan is about 26 centimeters.
Plumage and moult
.jpg)
Like all redstart, the black redstart is sexually dimorphic . The upper side of adult males is dark slate gray during the breeding season. The forehead is black, sometimes with a white spot on the forehead. The reins, cheeks and the underside from chin to stomach are black, the underside is lighter and grayer. The dark brown-gray hand and arm wings have a white border, which is particularly clear in the middle arm wings and forms a white wing surface. This is only visible when a bird is sitting and can hardly be seen in summer. In autumn and winter, the males appear a little lighter overall due to gray feather fringes.
Females are much more inconspicuous in color than males. The rump and upper tail-coverts appear less bright compared to the male and more red-brown than rust-orange. On the upper side, the females are drawn uniformly gray-brown, only the middle and lower abdomen are washed out gray-white and therefore lighter.
Fledglings look like females, but the underside is more piebald and more cloudy. After the juvenile moult , in which only part of the plumage is changed, the young females can no longer be distinguished from adult birds in the field. Most of the males also still look like females in their first year of life, because the black redstart shows delayed plumage maturation . This phenomenon is not uncommon in songbird species with sexually different coloring. A peculiarity of the black redstart is that not all of the one-year-old males show this delayed plumage ripening with the "inhibition dress " also known as cairei - morph . The other one-year-old males, around 15 percent, show the “progressive dress ” - the paradoxus morph. They are already very similar to adult males, but they lack the white wing mirrors and the dark, blackish wing feathers of perennials.
The annual moult is a full moult in the usual sequence for songbirds and takes place in Central Europe between mid-July and mid-October. The duration of the swinging moult is 50 days and is within the normal range for short-haul migrants.
voice
The Revier Gesang usually consists of a stanza clearly divided into three sections, which can last 2.5 to about 4 seconds. The opening section sounds a bit tedious and pressed and can be reproduced roughly with “jirr tititi”, whereby the volume increases towards the end. After a pause of about a second the characteristic scratchy, noise-like middle section follows, which merges into the clearly modulated final section - something like "krchrch-tütititi". This stanza can be strung together several times. The final part and the middle part are occasionally left out, and the tendency towards incomplete stanzas increases towards the end of the season. Variations mainly occur in the final part, with geographical as well as intra- and inter-individual differences. The singing of the Central Asian races is much more monotonous, because the opening and closing parts of these races consist of identical elements. As could be shown in experiments with sound mock-ups, this form of singing is still recognized by European conspecifics, which is due to the uniform structure of the initial section.
In addition to singing, two calls can most often be heard, which are often combined and both are used as contact, alarm or excitation calls. On the one hand, this is a short, upwardly drawn “huid”, “fit” or “sit”, and on the other hand a clicking, aggressive sounding “tk-tk” or “tuc-tuc”. The latter call, in particular, is presented quickly in a row when enemies of the ground approach.
Differentiation between redstart and redstart
In Europe, the closely related redstart ( Phoenicurus phoenicurus ) breeds next to the black redstart . Adult males of the common redstart are easy to distinguish during the breeding season by the white forehead, the black face mask and the rust-orange instead of brown-gray underside. It is more difficult to distinguish between the females, those of the redstart differ from the female black redstart by the light, mostly whitish isabel-colored throat and the clearly lighter rust-orange to isabel-brown underside.
Distribution, migrations and habitat
distribution
The black redstart is the only redstart species that has a distribution area that extends from the Central Asian mountain regions westward to the mountain regions of the Mediterranean and Europe as well as the temperate lowland regions of northeast, central and western Europe.
The eastern limit of the distribution area is about 111 ° east longitude in China. The deposits in the northeast, i.e. H. in Mongolia and in the south of Russia , are characterized by the northern Central Asian mountain ranges and should reach as far as the source region of the Yenisei at 52 ° north latitude. Further to the west, the northern border of the breeding area is characterized by mountain foothills and the foothills of Central Asia and runs roughly in a south-westerly direction from the Altai Mountains to the Hindu Kush. In the south, the limit of distribution runs across the southern slope of the Himalayas to the Hindu Kush .
The lowlands, steppes and semi-deserts of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan interrupt the breeding area of the black redstart, the species only reappears in the Kopet-Dag and Elburs Mountains and the Caucasus , and isolated island-like occurrences also exist in southern Iran .
In the Mediterranean area, the black redstart is also mainly restricted to the mountainous areas. In the southwest the breeding area extends to the High Atlas , in the eastern Mediterranean to the Lebanon Mountains . It was not until the middle of the 18th century that the species spread northwards in the low mountain regions and also in the lowlands of Europe, while the Carpathian Mountains , the Alps , the Massif Central and the Pyrenees have probably been populated for a long time. Since that time, the black redstart has re-conquered an area estimated at 1.6 million square kilometers. The northern limit of the distribution in Europe now extends to 65 ° north latitude, the species breeds, for example, in southern England , southern Sweden , Latvia and, since 1966, also in southwest Finland . The conquest of lowland regions in Europe continued in the last years of the 20th century; there are, for example, isolated breeding records in the coastal areas of central Finland and in the Volga lowlands near Kazan . However, the population density is significantly higher in the mountain areas than in the lowlands.
hikes
The black redstart of the western Palearctic are late migratory short-range migrants and overwinter mainly in the Mediterranean area to the northern edge of the Sahara and to the Sinai Peninsula . The northern limit of the regular wintering area roughly corresponds to the 7.5–10 ° C January isothermal period .
The populations of the southwest Palearctic are predominantly resident birds , but can also migrate over relatively short distances from the mountain regions to the nearby lowlands. The wintering areas of the black redstart of Central Asia and the Western Himalayas are more separated from the breeding areas. These overwinter from the lowlands of northwest India and Pakistan via southern Iran and the Arabian Peninsula to the highlands of Ethiopia and Somalia . The winter quarters of the populations of the eastern Himalayas, Tibet and western China range from northern Burma to southern India.
The migration of the Central European Black Redstart begins in the last third of September, the maximum migration occurs in early to mid-October, and the migration slowly fades out in November. Central European Black Redstart are occasionally observed in the breeding area in winter, but the number of observations seems insignificant so far. However, it cannot be ruled out that the mild winters of recent years could result in a gradual change in migratory behavior.
The home migration to Central Europe begins in January, the first birds arrive in the breeding areas at the end of February. In mid-March, the return home is the liveliest, in Eastern and Northern Europe the last returnees do not arrive until the beginning of June. It is not uncommon for some of the birds to overshot the target. Young birds in particular were regularly observed in Scotland or even up to latitude 69 ° north in Norway. Such migration route extensions are likely to have been a major factor in the expansion of the Black Redstart's area. While the territorial loyalty of perennial birds is very strong, annual black redstart practically never return to the place of birth. This considerable urge to disperse is likely to play a role in the reconquest of habitats.
Black redstart apparently cover a large part of their way in the broad front migration typical of songbirds , but the mountain ranges of the Swiss Jura have a clear guideline effect. The question of the share of day and night trains is still controversial. On the one hand, birds in captivity show a sudden increase in nocturnal migratory unrest, on the other hand, catches in the Jura and on Alpine passes show movements that were mainly during the day. It is assumed that in the early phase of the migration the black redstart moves during the day in a kind of "stealth" move, during which it spends a relatively long time on the hunt. If later long distances have to be covered, however, it migrates at night - like other insectivorous migratory birds - with subsequent daytime rest in insect-rich areas.
habitat
The black redstart is the only bird species in the Western Palearctic to inhabit all altitudes from sea level to the alpine, and sporadically even to the lower nival altitude . Even the primary habitats of the species encompass a wide range of dry to moist mountain and rocky regions, and the black redstart now colonizes a large number of human-made habitats.
What all primary habitats have in common is the open, largely clear character and the lack of higher, dense vegetation. These habitats have at least individual rocks or blocks that are important as breeding sites or waiting areas. The climatic and orographic framework conditions of the primary habitats differ considerably. Examples are gentle, sparsely overgrown, scree-covered mountain slopes and knolls in Mongolia , steep gorges and slopes with adjacent high mountain semi-deserts in the dry valleys of the inner Himalayas or also rocky plateaus and rock slopes on the edges of glaciers in the high mountains of Europe and Asia. There is evidence of breeding in the Alps up to 3200 m on the Gornergrat and in the Himalayas up to about 5700 m .
The spectrum of secondary habitats populated by the black redstart is extraordinarily broad, the connection to the primary habitats is not obvious in all cases, but it is recognizable on closer inspection. A key factor in these habitats is the existence of at least some clear, short-grass or low-vegetation areas that are preferred to be hunted. When choosing the nest location, the black redstart is extremely flexible and insensitive to disturbances. There are secondary habitats inside and outside human settlements. Examples are gravel pits , stone quarries , vineyards with retaining walls, and virtually all types of residential, commercial and industrial facilities. In Europe, settlements should now accommodate 90 percent of the total population.
Open, clearly arranged habitats are preferred as resting places even after the breeding season and during migration. Settlement birds also use the surrounding cultivated land in late summer, especially fallow land and harvested maize fields. Particularly popular resting places during the train are river banks, especially in bad weather. Ried and reed areas, on the other hand, are avoided despite their abundance of food and their open to semi-open character.
Food and subsistence
The black redstart's diet consists mainly of small invertebrates , but plant foods, especially berries , also play a certain role. The range of prey is diverse, it includes more than 50 families of insects , various arachnids - especially spiders and harvestmen - as well as various species of other, primarily ground-dwelling arthropods and snails . The size of the prey is mainly between two and eight millimeters. The black redstart also occasionally preyes on caterpillars and earthworms, which can be up to seven centimeters long. Such large prey animals are squeezed or cut up before being eaten or fed.
The digestive tract of the black redstart shows adaptations to animal food. It is controversial whether the berries have a special physiological importance or whether a corresponding offer is only used opportunistically.
The black redstart is primarily a waiting hunter . Typical is the lurking of prey on the ground from elevated positions, for example on stones, rocks, posts or roofs, less often bushes or trees. Most often, the prey is reached with straight swoops, changes in direction of the fixed object can compensate for the black redstart. The distance to the prey is usually between two and three meters, but can also be over ten meters. Flying insects are also regularly preyed on, but the airspace is of secondary importance. The black redstart also uses the shaking flight to acquire food and can also read prey on rocks or woody plants or pick berries from bushes in this way.
As an alternative to hunting in waiting, the black redstart looks for food directly on the ground in a variety of ways. For this he is well adapted with his long legs and equally long inner and outer toes. Most of the time it moves hopping, less often walking. In summary, the black redstart shows high flexibility when it comes to food acquisition and often opportunistic behavior when food is available at short notice - for example, the good visibility of insects after fresh snow falls in the mountains is used.
behavior
Black redstart are not very social birds, even outside of the breeding season they are almost always alone when looking for food. Only during the migration in bad weather or with local masses of prey - for example on river banks - can briefly loose associations occur, but even in such cases a considerable individual distance is maintained.
Activity and comfort behavior
In Central Europe, black redstart begin to sing about one, sometimes two hours before sunrise from March to June. This makes them, along with the blackbirds, one of the earliest morning singers; in the Alps, only the wheatear song can begin earlier. Especially at the beginning of the breeding season, the black redstart can sing continuously with small breaks until late at dusk. In good weather he utters an average of more than 5000 stanzas, the pure singing time is over six hours. Occasionally the singing can also be heard at night. There have also been reports of black redstart catching swarming insects at a street lamp at night.
Especially during the moult you can see the birds sunbathing, water baths and only in exceptional cases dust baths can be observed.
Territoriality and antagonistic behavior
The period in which the black redstart males established their territory extends over a period of up to six weeks after arrival in the breeding area in Central Europe. As with other songbird species, the young males arrive later in the breeding area and thus already have a disadvantage when choosing a territory. The range of conspicuous singing stations should be at least as important a criterion when choosing the area as the nesting site. Among the songbird species, the black redstart is the most selective when it comes to the selection of the song observatories and prefers the most exposed places, typically the highest available rocks in the primary habitat or the gable tops in the secondary habitat . Treetops are also used, albeit extremely rarely. This preference for extremely conspicuous, high waits is unusual for a bird foraging primarily on the ground. For the area size in secondary habitats, the information in the literature is between 0.35 and 7 hectares . In reasonably suitable habitats, however, the districts should hardly be larger than 2 hectares, the mean size is significantly less. Reliable information is lacking for the primary habitats, but it can be assumed that the territories are often far apart and that there are fewer fixed territorial boundaries.
Black redstart that maintains the territory react clearly and immediately to competitors on the edge of the territories and to intruders. The spectrum of reactions ranges from singing duels to careful, creeping approaches with threatening gestures to aggressive, attack-like attacks. Black redstart , on the other hand, is not very aggressive towards non-species co-users of the area, and even the related redstart is usually tolerated. The black redstart is attacked much more frequently by the greater wheatear than the other way around.
Annual black redstart males, colored like females ("inhibition dress"), who invade a territory of an older male, seem to be attacked just as violently by the territory owners as intruders in adult dress. This contradicts the “female mimicry” hypothesis. This explanatory model published by Sievert Rohwer and his colleagues in 1980 about the adaptive value of simple youth clothing assumes that sexually mature young males colored like females can deceive the superior older ones about their status and thus have an advantage. Another argument against this thesis is that one-year-old males in the “inhibitory dress” hold inferior territories than the males of the same age in the “progressive dress” and - presumably as a result - are also mated less frequently.
What is striking about the black redstart is the autumn song that can be heard in Central Europe after the moult in September and October. It is carried almost exclusively by adult males and is already preparing the establishment of the territory for the following breeding season.
Reproduction
Black redstart become sexually mature at the end of the first year of life, this also applies to the one year olds, colored like females, in the “inhibition dress”. Representatives of the species lead predominantly a monogamous seasonal marriage. Territorial loyalty and individual preferences for certain territories can also lead to the partners raising young together again in the following year. Polygyny has been proven several times; one-year-old males only succeed in conquering two females under extremely favorable conditions.
In large parts of its southern and central European area, the black redstart breed two or more seldom three annual broods. As a result of the asynchronous arrival in the breeding area, there is an overlap between the first and second broods, even within individual populations. The frequency of the second broods varies according to altitude and latitude. In addition, perennial males create a second brood significantly more often than annuals.
Courtship and pairing
The females, who arrive in Central Europe a few days to two weeks later than the males in the breeding area, apparently do not immediately decide on a partner, but roam around for several days. Possibly they collect information about territorial qualities and the status of potential partners. Extended car chases are the most noticeable behavior in the early mating phase. During the ritual breaks there are ritualized imposing and courtship gestures in which perennial males show off their wing mirror . Joint inspections of potential nesting sites are also preparations for the breeding process.
At the beginning of partner relationships, copulations are initiated by longer prompts and gestures, later in the season the female briefly requests mating with a crouched posture and trembling wings. The copulations, which only last a few seconds, often take place in exposed places, for example on roof ridges.
Nest location and nest
The black redstart is predominantly niche , more rarely also half-cave breeder . In the primary habitat, as with other birds in the high mountains, crevices and niches in the rock serve as nest sites. In the settlement area, the species shows an astonishing flexibility in the use of nesting sites, and the birds also prove to be insensitive to disturbances, noise and stench. Extensive lists of extreme nesting locations can be found in the literature - for example the linkage of a generator that was in operation for 10 to 12 hours a day and whose location repeatedly changed while the young were raised. Even in most extreme locations, however, a preference for slightly dim, well-protected, roofed or covered places can be seen. Artificial nesting aids are sometimes accepted but not preferred.
Both the choice of the nesting site and the construction of the nest is almost exclusively done by the female. Nesting material is usually collected in the immediate vicinity. The females know how to adapt the size and scope of the nest to the circumstances in order to achieve the best possible heat insulation and shielding. The nest is a rather voluminous, solid bowl with a comparatively deep hollow. The substructure, outer frame and middle section consist mainly of longer, dry stalks, and moss is also used more often, and less often smaller root components, lichen, feathers or paper. For the interior upholstery, the females mainly use animal hair and feathers, less often glass wool or wadding. A new nest is usually built for the second brood, on the other hand nests are sometimes used again for the first brood from the previous year. There are also three annual broods, in Saxony-Anhalt this applies to 10% of the breeding pairs on a multi-year average.
Clutch and brood
The pointed oval eggs are pure white, rarely tinged with light blue. On average, they measure around 20 × 15 millimeters and weigh a little over two grams. As with most songbirds, eggs are laid mostly in the early hours of the morning, one day apart. The average full clutch contains five eggs. The clutch size shows only slight seasonal, geographic and altitude-dependent variation in Europe. The second most common are four-clutch, six-clutch are less common, but still normal.
The female begins incubation after the last egg has been laid or in the previous night. The incubation period in Central Europe is 12 to 17 days, on average 14 days. Brood participation of the male occurs only in exceptional cases to a negligible extent.
Development of the young
The young birds hatch largely synchronously, often within a few hours. The egg shells are discharged immediately after hatching, the manure is eaten in the first days and the hatchlings are from the female brooded . Later, the boys' excrement balls are deposited at a considerable distance from the nest; this considerable energy expenditure is interpreted as a defense strategy against nest robbers .
The nestling period lasts between 12 and 19 days, as a rule the young birds stay in the nest for 15 to 17 days. Newly hatched young weigh about 1.5 grams and can increase their birth weight tenfold in about 10 days. From the eleventh day of life, young black redstart are largely feathered.
Both sexes take part in the feeding, females feed more regularly and a little more frequently than males, the latter hand over part of the prey to the female and bring larger prey to the nest. Both parents also look after the boys after they leave, usually for about 10 days, in exceptional cases for up to three weeks. In expectation of the food, the winglings often sit exposed near the ground, for example on fences - and are not infrequently preyed on by cats . The stub tails of the young birds need two to three weeks after they have fled the country until they have reached the length corresponding to the adult birds.
Causes of Loss and Life Expectancy
The egg and nestling losses are comparatively low, as the nests are usually well protected and difficult to reach for nest enemies. Under normal circumstances, 85 to 90 percent of eggs hatch and 90 to 95 percent of hatched juveniles fly out. Total losses of particularly exposed nests have a noticeable effect on the rate of loss; in the settlement area, more than a third of these cases can be traced back to human interference. Cold spells can dramatically increase nestling mortality in mountainous areas. Further losses are caused by ectoparasites and by the cuckoo , which regularly - especially in the Alpine region - lays its eggs in black redstart nests.
The most important predators for adult birds are the sparrowhawk and, with some distance, the barn owl . It is noticeable that, unlike other birds such as blackbirds , house sparrows or chaffinches , black redstart rarely fall victim to road traffic in the settlement area. Possibly this has to do with the maneuverability and responsiveness to moving objects, which are important for the black redstart as a waiting hunter.
For the age structure of black redstart populations, observational data and projections consistently show that about half of sexually active birds are annual. Another 40 percent are between one and three years old, only about 3 percent are five years and older. The previously known maximum age of a black redstart living in the wild is ten years.
Inventory and inventory development
| country | Number of breeding pairs | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 600,000-1,000,000 | 1995-1999 |
| Austria | 100,000-200,000 | 1998-2002 |
| Switzerland | 250,000-500,000 | 1993-1996 |
The worldwide population of the species was roughly estimated at 32 to 58 million sexually mature individuals for 2012. Short-term, especially weather-related fluctuations are insignificant. In Europe, despite temporary local population declines - especially in France and England - stocks increased significantly towards the end of the 20th century and have remained stable over the past 10 years. In this respect, the species is not classified as endangered.
In the middle of the 19th century, the black redstart was still far rarer than the common redstart in the lowlands and in the settlements of Central Europe ; the inverse relationship, which is still valid today, was first documented at the beginning of the 20th century. The population increases in many of the destroyed cities at the end of World War II were striking . The black redstart was able to largely compensate for the temporary population loss after the rubble landscape was removed due to the expansion of the built-up areas and settlement areas.
Systematics
Relationships of the redstart
The redstart and the Schmätzer subfamily were traditionally assigned to the thrush family (Turdidae). Both the findings of DNA hybridization and more recent results of the sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene suggest, however, that the smearers and thus also the redtails are more closely related to the flycatchers (Muscicapidae) than to the thrushes.
Within the redstart, the Tibetan field redstart is likely to be the closest relative of the black redstart. This species largely agrees with the black redstart not only in terms of coloration - at least with its “more original” eastern races. The field redstart is the only other redstart species, like the black redstart, to have delayed plumage ripening.
According to molecular genetic studies carried out in 2006 , the common redstart is not one of the redstart species most closely related to the black redstart, although fertile hybrids often occur in the contact zone . It is assumed that the redstart and the redstart only came into contact again through the recent expansion of the black redstart's area, and that despite the lack of reproductive isolation , species could split up here.
Subspecies
The total of five to seven recognized subspecies differ mainly in the plumage color of the adult males. According to morphological and molecular genetic findings, these subspecies are divided into three subspecies:
gibraltariensis group
The western races have a gray to light gray color on the abdomen and a clear wing surface. The division of this group into the two subspecies probably took place during the last ice age .
- Phoenicurus ochruros gibraltariensis ( JF Gmelin , 1789): This subspecies colonizes Europe and Northwest Africa. The appearance corresponds to the description above.
- Phoenicurus ochruros aterrimus ( von Jordans , 1923): The populations in Portugal as well as in central and southern Spain show a more intense black color , especially on the neck and back. The delimitation of P. o. Gibraltariensis as a separate subspecies is, however, controversial.
ochruros group
The appearance of the populations in Asia Minor and the Middle East changes fluently from the west, where the males are more soot-black on the top andresemblethe gibraltariensis forms, to the east, where the birds are more ash-gray on the top and increasingly red-brown on the underside and already have similarities show with the East Asian forms.
- Phoenicurus ochruros ochruros ( SG Gmelin , 1774): The phenotypically very variable nominate form colonizes Asia Minor , the Caucasus and northwestern Iran , the representatives of this breed are smaller than P. o. Gibraltariensis .
- Phoenicurus ochruros semirufus ( Hemprich & Ehrenberg , 1833): The males of this subspecies are black below the chin and breast and otherwise strong chestnut brown including the axillary feathers and very dark on top. This breed colonizes the highlands of Syria , Lebanon and Israel .
phoenicuroides group
The races of the eastern distribution area, which are considered to be the original forms of the species, with their reddish brown colored bellies and axillary feathers are very reminiscent of common redstart.
- Phoenicurus ochruros phoenicuroides ( F. Moore , 1854): These populations colonize Central Asia and the western Himalayas . The representatives are smaller and have different colors, but always have gray tones on the top of the head.
- Phoenicurus ochruros rufiventris ( Vieillot , 1818): China , Tibet as well as the central and eastern Himalayas are colonized by this subspecies. The representatives of this breed are significantly larger than P. o. Phoenicuroides , and their head and back are not ash gray, but evenly deep black.
- Phoenicurus ochruros xerophilus ( Stegmann , 1928): The populations of Xinjiang and Qinghai differ in their pale reddish color of the abdomen. The separation as a separate subspecies from P. o. Rufiventris is controversial.
Black redstart and human
Etymology and naming
As in German (Rotschwänze) , the generic name refers in many languages to the reddish tail of the birds. The same applies to the scientific name Phoenicurus, which is of Greek origin ( ancient Greek φοῖνιξ phoinix , German 'purple, carmine red' and οὐρά oura 'tail'). The type epithet combines the ending -uros with the Greek adjective ὠχρός ōchros , which means 'pale' and sets it apart from the common redstart ( Phoenicurus phoenicurus ), which has a brighter tail.
In German, the black redstart is also called black red chalk , in addition, in the slightly more than 200 years that the species has now been breeding in the vicinity of humans, some names have become naturalized that often have only local meaning. In many cases, no distinction is made between redstart and redstart. Colloquially, both types are just as redstart referred, or especially in Switzerland as Rotzigeli what means the same. In Tyrol and Bavaria , in particular, there are some variations of the name Brantele, which is due to the large amount of black in the plumage, which is associated with soot or coal. Another similarly motivated name is Zagelmönch , which means something like 'monk with a tail'. The somewhat crude terms Wackelarsch or Schwappelarsch can be traced back to the trembling of the tail.
Popular belief
The proximity to humans has also given the species a certain importance in popular belief . In the Swiss canton of Bern , the black redstart is considered a good luck charm, elsewhere it is supposed to protect a house from fire - but in some areas the exact opposite is also true. In rural areas, the black redstart has also been assumed to be present in connection with the fact that cows give red milk. The real reason was not known at the time - namely that the milk became reddish due to inflamed and bleeding mammary glands ( mastitis ).
literature
- Armin Landmann: The black redstart . AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1996, ISBN 3-89104-551-4
- UN Glutz von Blotzheim , KM Bauer : Handbook of the birds of Central Europe (HBV). Volume 11 / I: Schmätzer and relatives: Erithacinae. AULA-Verlag, ISBN 3-923527-00-4 .
- Jochen Hölzinger : The birds of Baden-Württemberg . Volume 3/1, Songbirds / Sperlingsvögel , Eugen Ulmer Verlag; Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-8001-3493-4 .
- Josep del Hoyo , Andrew Elliott, David A. Christie: Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 10: Cuckoo-shrikes to Thrushes. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2005, ISBN 978-84-87334-72-6 .
- Heinz Menzel: The black redstart . Neue Brehm Bücherei, Magdeburg 1995, ISBN 3-89432-221-7
Web links
- Phoenicurus ochruros in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed October 26 of 2008.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Phoenicurus ochruros in the Internet Bird Collection
- Age and gender characteristics (PDF; 3.7 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta and Gerd-Michael Heinze (English)
- Black redstart feathers
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme: Species trends. Phoenicurus ochruros (Black Redstart) . Retrieved October 6, 2019
- ↑ a b c A. Landmann: The black redstart . Biogeography and evolution of the redstart, pages 11–18, see literature
- ↑ a b c d A. Landmann: The black redstart . Races, sexes, clothes, morphs, pages 22–27, see literature
- ↑ H. Menzel, The Black Redstart . Page 12, see literature
- ↑ a b HBV Volume 11 / I, P. o. Gibraltariensis , field identifier, description; Pages 304–308, see literature
- ↑ HBV Volume 11 / I, P. o. Gibraltariensis , Mauser; Page 309
- ↑ a b HBV Volume 11 / I, P. o. Gibraltariensis , voice; Page 310ff
- ↑ A. Landmann: The black redstart . Phonetic utterances, pages 28–32, see literature
- ↑ HBV Volume 11 / I, P. p. phoenicurus , field identifier; Page 344, see literature
- ↑ A. Landmann: The black redstart . Overall distribution and racial classification, page 33ff, see literature
- ↑ A. Landmann: The black redstart . Areas then and now, pages 35–39, see literature
- ↑ del Hoyo et al .: HBW Volume 10, Black Redstart , page 770f, see literature
- ↑ a b A. Landmann: The black redstart . Wintering areas, page 39f, see literature
- ↑ a b c A. Landmann: The black redstart . Migration and wintering, pages 128–132, see literature
- ↑ a b A. Landmann: The black redstart . Dynamics of population structure and dispersal of young birds, pages 117–120, see literature
- ↑ a b c d Hölzinger: The birds of Baden-Württemberg . Volume 3/1, pages 338-348, see literature
- ↑ A. Landmann: The black redstart . Primary habitats, pages 41–44, see literature
- ↑ HBV Volume 11 / I, P. o. Gibraltariensis , distribution of the species; Page 301, see literature
- ↑ A. Landmann: The black redstart . From the plains to the mountains, page 51ff, see literature
- ↑ A. Landmann: The black redstart . Secondary habitats, pages 45–51, see literature
- ↑ A. Landmann: The black redstart . Migration, resting and winter habitat, page 53f, see literature
- ↑ a b c A. Landmann: The black redstart . Composition and choice of food, pages 62–65, see literature
- ↑ a b A. Landmann: The black redstart . Adaptations: Ecomorphology and Locomotion, page 55ff, see literature
- ↑ a b c d e A. Landmann: The black redstart . Territory delimitation, pages 69–78, see literature
- ↑ a b HBV Volume 11 / I, P. o. Gibraltariensis , Behavior; Activity; Page 331f, see literature
- ↑ HBV Volume 11 / I, P. o. Gibraltariensis , Behavior; Rest, cleaning; Page 332f, see literature
- ↑ a b A. Landmann: The black redstart . Territory sizes: variation in space and time, pages 79–82, see literature
- ^ S. Rohwer, SD Fretwell, DM Niles: Delayd plumage maturation in passerine plumages and the deceptive acquisition of resources . In: American Naturalist No. 115 (1980), pp. 400-437
- ↑ Martin Weggler: Reproductive consequences of autumnal singing in Black Redstarts (Phoenicurus ochruros) (PDF; 861 kB). In: Auk 117 (1): 65-73, 2000
- ↑ A. Landmann: The black redstart . Sexual Strategies and the Mating System: The Battle of the Sexes, page 91f, see literature
- ↑ A. Landmann: The black redstart . Seasonal adjustment, pages 95–98, see literature
- ↑ a b A. Landmann: The black redstart . Pair formation and pair bonding, pages 92–95, see literature
- ↑ a b A. Landmann: The black redstart . Nest location, nest and nest building, pages 98–103, see literature
- ↑ Bernd Nicolai: Black Redstart . In: The bird world of Saxony-Anhalt . August 2018
- ↑ HBV Volume 11 / I, P. o. Gibraltariensis , Reproduction; Pages 324-330, see literature
- ↑ A. Landmann: The black redstart . Eggs, clutches, incubation, page 103ff, see literature
- ↑ a b A. Landmann: The black redstart . Raising the Young, pp. 105–110, see literature
- ↑ a b A. Landmann: The black redstart . Development of young birds, page 110ff, see literature
- ↑ a b A. Landmann: The black redstart . Population regulation, pages 120–123, see literature
- ↑ a b BirdLife International: Species Factsheet - Phoenicurus ochruros . Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ↑ a b HBV Volume 11 / I, P. o. Gibraltariensis , population, population development; Page 313ff, see literature
- ↑ Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme: Population Trends of Common European Breeding Birds 2013 .
- ↑ A. Landmann: The black redstart . Taxonomic position, page 10f, see literature
- ↑ a b Kemal Topaç Ertan: The evolutionary history of Eurasian redstarts, Phoenicurus (PDF; 37 kB) . Acta Zoologica Sinica, 52 (Supplement): 310-313, 2006
- ↑ HBV Volume 11 / I, P. o. Gibraltariensis , Geographische Variation; Page 301ff, see literature
- ↑ H. Menzel, The Black Redstart . Page 11f, see literature
- ↑ A. Landmann: The Black Redstart , page 7, see literature
- ↑ www.gebaeudebrueter.de: Black Redstart
- ↑ Heinz Werner Hubner: The redstart - dreamy in the foliage . In: The time . No. 5 of January 29, 1988
