Description:

Medium size, typical redstart. Male has black or dark grey upperparts, black breast, and rufous underparts. Female and first-year male are almost entirely dusky brown with rufous-orange wash on lower flanks and belly. Juvenile has diffuse dark scaling on upperparts and underparts.

Distribution:

Common summer visitor and passage migrant all across Gilgit-Baltistan, very rare in eastern parts. Found in sparsely vegetated rocky areas, stony slopes with vegetation, crags in high valleys and up to snow-line at 5000m; also villages and towns.

Behavior:

Feeds mainly on ground, sometimes digging 2-4 cm into earth to uncover larvae. Also sallies to ground to feed, and sometimes makes aerial flycatching sallies and briefly hovers to take prey from vegetation or vertical substrate. Diet mainly consist of invertebrates and berries, switching proportions considerably during summer and winter.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Black Redstart in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Black Redstart

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.