Painted redstart
{{short description|Species of bird}}
{{speciesbox
| name = Painted redstart
| image = Painted Redstart.jpg
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Myioborus
| species = pictus
| authority = (Swainson, 1829)
| range_map = Myioborus pictus map.svg
| range_map_caption = Range of M. pictus {{leftlegend|#FFFF00|outline=gray|Breeding range}}{{leftlegend|#008000|outline=gray|Year-round range}}
| synonyms = Setophaga pictus
}}
The painted redstart or painted whitestart (Myioborus pictus) is a species of New World warbler found in mountainous areas across inland Central America. They are among the largest warblers, reaching the length of {{convert|6|in}}, tail included. Adult birds have glossy black plumage, with white strips on the wing and a bright red belly. Female and male birds have similar appearance. Female painted redstarts have a rare feature of being as good singers as the males.
Taxonomy
When he first described the species in 1829, naturalist William Swainson assigned it to the genus Setophaga — the same genus as that of the American redstart — where it remained for nearly a century and a half, though one naturalist placed it in the Old World flycatcher genus Muscicapa during that time.{{cite book |title=The birds of North and Middle America |first1=Robert |last1=Ridgway |first2=Herbert |last2=Friedmann |year=1901 |publisher=Government Publishing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=728–730 |isbn=9780598370372 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WYgaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA759}} By the mid 1960s, researchers recommended that it be moved to its current genus, Myioborus, based on various similarities with the other whitestarts.{{cite journal |title=Taxonomic Relationships Among the American Redstarts |first=Kenneth C |last=Parkes |date=December 1961 |url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v073n04/p0374-p0379.pdf |journal=The Wilson Bulletin |volume=73 |issue=4 |pages=374–379}}{{cite journal |url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v077n04/p0363-p0375.pdf |journal=The Wilson Bulletin |volume=77 |issue=4 |pages=363–375 |title=Comparative Ethology of the Chestnut-sided Warbler, Yellow Warbler, and American Redstart |first1=Millicent S |last1=Ficken |first2=Robert W |last2=Ficken}} The painted redstart is the sister taxon to all the other species in the genus Myioborus.{{ cite journal | last1=Lovette | first1=I.J. | last2=Pérez-Emán | first2=J.L. | last3=Sullivan | first3=J.P. | last4=Banks | first4=R.C. | last5=Fiorentino | first5=I. | last6=Córdoba-Córdoba | first6=S. | last7=Echeverry-Galvis | first7=M. | last8=Barker | first8=F.K. | last9=Burns | first9=K.J. | last10=Klicka | first10=J. | last11=Lanyon | first11=S.M. | last12=Bermingham | first12=E. | year=2010 | title=A comprehensive multilocus phylogeny for the wood-warblers and a revised classification of the Parulidae (Aves) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=57 | issue=2 | pages=753–770 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2010.07.018 | pmid=20696258 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/45582717 }}{{ cite journal | last1=Barker | first1=F.K. | last2=Burns | first2=K.J. | last3=Klicka | first3=J. | last4=Lanyon | first4=S.M. | last5=Lovette | first5=I.J. | year=2015 | title=New insights into New World biogeography: An integrated view from the phylogeny of blackbirds, cardinals, sparrows, tanagers, warblers, and allies | journal=Auk | volume=132 | issue=2 | pages=333–348 | doi=10.1642/AUK-14-110.1 | s2cid=53058340 }}
There are two subspecies, which differ only slightly in appearance:{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2019 | title=New World warblers, mitrospingid tanagers | website=IOC World Bird List Version 9.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/warblers/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=12 September 2019 }}
- M. p. pictus is found from Arizona and New Mexico in the southern United States to Oaxaca and Veracruz in Mexico. Birds in the northern part of the range tend to migrate to the southern parts of the subspecies' range for the winter.
- M. p. guatemalae, which is found from Chiapas in southern Mexico to northern Nicaragua, has little or no white edging on the tertials and less white on the fourth rectrix of the tail. It is non-migratory.
Description
The painted redstart is the largest species of Myioborus, measuring {{convert|5.1|-|5.9|in|cm|abbr=on}} in length, {{convert|8.3|in|cm}} in wingspan and having a weight of {{convert|0.3|-|0.4|oz|g|abbr=on}}.{{Cite web|title=Painted Redstart Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology|url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Painted_Redstart/id|access-date=2020-09-30|website=www.allaboutbirds.org|language=en}}
The sexes are the same in plumage, though males average slightly larger than females. The adult is mostly black, with a bright red lower breast and belly, large white wing patches, white outer tail feathers and white crescents below its eyes. The bill and legs are blackish.{{cite book|title=New World Warblers |first1=John |last1=Curson |first2=David |last2=Quinn |first3=David |last3=Beadle |pages=193–4 |isbn=0713639326|publisher=Christopher Helm |year=1994 |location=London}}
The juvenile painted redstart lacks the red belly and glossy black plumage of the adult. It is brownish-gray overall, with a paler belly and undertail coverts, and a pale cream or buff tinge to its wing patches. The young have a deep yellow-orange mouth lining.{{cite journal |url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v077n01/p0071-p0075.pdf |volume=77 |issue=1 |pages=71–75 |journal=The Wilson Bulletin |first=Millicent S. |last=Ficken |title=Mouth Color of Nestling Passerines and Its Use in Taxonomy |date=March 1965}}
=Voice=
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.
Distribution and habitat
Painted redstarts are common in open oak woodlands and canyons at heights between {{convert|1,500|–|2,500|m|ft|abbr=on}} in Central America and Mexico, ranging as far north as the Madrean sky islands and Mogollon Rim in Arizona and New Mexico and Big Bend National Park in Texas; they are thought to be wholly insectivorous.{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/20852436|title=Book of North American birds.|date=1990|publisher=Reader's Digest Association|others=Reader's Digest Association|isbn=0-89577-351-1|location=Pleasantville, N.Y.|oclc=20852436}} During the summer and winter, these birds may venture as far south as Nicaragua. In 2010, a painted redstart was found further north in California than had ever been recorded, in Auburn, CA, east of Sacramento.{{cite web|title=Rare Painted Redstart putting Auburn on the map with birdwatchers|url=http://auburnjournal.com/detail/150614.html |access-date=6 July 2010 |publisher=Auburn Journal |date=22 May 2010 |first=Gus |last=Thomson}} In 2013, one was observed in Berkeley, CA.{{Cite web|url=http://www.berkeleyside.com/2013/11/18/painted-redstart-visits-berkeley-a-first-for-alameda-county/|title=First local sighting brings flocks of birders to Berkeley|date=18 November 2013}}
Breeding
Their nesting is done on the ground, and they create their nests so that they will be hidden among rocks, roots, or tufts of grass on steeply sloping ground. Their nests are large and shallow, constructed of strips of bark, plant fibers, leaves, and grass. The female will lay 3 or 4 white to cream-colored eggs that are speckled with fine brown and reddish spots. Incubation lasts about 14 days, but other nesting details are largely unknown.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20001201225100/http://www.bird-stamps.org/cspecies/19907300.htm Stamps]}} (for Nicaragua) with RangeMap
- [http://vireo.acnatsci.org/search.html?Form=Search&SEARCHBY=Common&KEYWORDS=painted+redstart&showwhat=images&AGE=All&SEX=All&ACT=All&Search=Search&VIEW=All&ORIENTATION=All&RESULTS=24 Painted redstart photo gallery] VIREO (with photo of egg clutch)
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070731213041/http://borderland-tours.com/v2/images/stories/borderland/gallery_photos/arizona/065.jpg Photo-High Res]; [https://web.archive.org/web/20071023215855/http://borderland-tours.com/v2/content/view/39/59/ Article] borderland-tours
{{Taxonbar|from=Q251316}}
Category:Meso-American montane bird species