Moussier's redstart
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Moussier's redstart (Phoenicurus moussieri) male.jpg
| image_caption = Male, Toubkal, Morocco
| image2 = Moussier's redstart (Phoenicurus moussieri) female Cap Bon.jpg
| image2_caption = Female, Cap Bon Peninsula, Tunisia
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Phoenicurus
| species = moussieri
| authority = (Olphe-Galliard, 1852)
}}
Moussier's redstart (Phoenicurus moussieri) is a small passerine bird in the genus Phoenicurus (redstarts), formerly classed as a member of the thrush family (Turdidae), but is now classified as an Old World flycatcher (Muscicapidae). It is an endemic resident breeder in the Atlas Mountains of northwest Africa. Its habitat is open woodland in rocky areas from sea level up to 3000 m altitude in the mountains.{{cite book| editor-last = Hoyo| editor-first = J. del| display-editors = etal| title = Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 10| publisher = Lynx Edicions| year = 2005| location = Barcelona| pages = [https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0001unse/page/773 773]| isbn = 978-84-87334-72-6| url = https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0001unse/page/773}}
It is the smallest redstart, only 12 cm long and 14–15 g weight. The male has a black head with a broad white stripe running above each eye and down the side of the neck. The upperparts are black other than a white wing patch, and the rich chestnut tail, from which it and other redstarts get their names (start is an old word for tail). The underparts are a rich orange-red. The female has a pale brown head and upperparts, and the underparts are a paler orange than the male, although generally redder than the underparts of the similar but larger female common redstart.{{cite book |title=The Birds of the Western Palearctic |last1=Snow |first1=D. W.|last2=Perrins |first2=C. M.| edition = Concise | year=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location= Oxford|isbn= 978-0-19-854099-1}}
It is named after Jean Moussier (1795–1850) who was an amateur naturalist and a surgeon in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars.{{cite book|last1=Beolen|first1=Bo|title=Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds|year=2003|publisher=Christopher|location=Helm|isbn=978-0-7136-6647-2|page=241|first2=Michael|last2=Watkins}}
Behaviour
The male's song is a mixture of rasping sounds and svee-svee notes. The call is a plaintive single note, wheet. It is primarily insectivorous, often feeding like a flycatcher, making aerial sallies after passing insects, but also picking and even digging insects out of the ground; more rarely, it will eat small berries. Its nest is built in a bush or on the ground and the clutch is typically 3-6 eggs.
File:Phoenicurus moussieri Algerie HdB MHNT224.jpg]]
File:Cuculus canorus bangsi MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.149.11.jpg - MHNT]]
Although largely resident, some show limited migratory behaviour, particularly altitudinal migration by those breeding at high altitudes moving to lower levels in winter. Vagrants have reached north to Great Britain (Dinas Head, Pembrokeshire; April 1988Dudley, S. P. et al. (2006). The British List: A Checklist of Birds of Britain (7th edition). Ibis 148: 526–563. [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1474-919X.2006.00603.x/pdf Full text]), east to Greece, and south to Mauritania.Salewski, V., Schmaljohann, H., & Herremans, M. (2005). New bird records from Mauritania. Malimbus 27: 13-18. [http://malimbus.free.fr/summarie/summ2719.htm Abstract.]
Taxonomy
The genus name Phoenicurus is from Ancient Greek phoinix, "red", and -ouros -"tailed".{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A. | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location = London, United Kingdom | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n261 261], 304}}. The English and specific names commemorate Jean Moussier (1795–1850) who was an amateur naturalist and a surgeon in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars.{{cite book|last1=Beolen|first1=Bo|title=Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds |year=2003|publisher=Christopher|location=Helm|isbn=978-0-7136-6647-2|page=241|first2=Michael|last2=Watkins}}
Its relationships are obscure; its biogeography is not matched by any other redstart, while its colour pattern is most similar to the much larger Güldenstädt's redstart, which shares the conspicuous white wing patch of the male. It was not included in the study by Ertan (2006),Ertan, K. T. (2006): The evolutionary history of Eurasian redstarts, Phoenicurus. Acta Zoologica Sinica 52 (Supplement): 310–313. [http://www.avibirds.com/pdf/Z/Zwarte%20Roodstaart1.pdf PDF fulltext] while in the limited sampling by Sangster et al. (2010) it was closest to common redstart.Sangster, G., Alström, P., Forsmark, E., & Olsson, U. (2010). Multi-locus phylogenetic analysis of Old World chats and flycatchers reveals extensive paraphyly at family, subfamily and genus level (Aves: Muscicapidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 57: 380–392 [http://www.nrm.se/download/18.3ebfe5cf12a9d3ebacb80002787/Sangster+et+al+2010+Muscicapidae+MPE.pdf Full text]
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q774012}}
Category:Birds of North Africa