Black Redstart, colilrrojo tizón

Phoenicurus ochruros

Description:

The Black Redstart is a small passerine bird in the redstart genus Phoenicurus. It belongs to the mountains but a long time ago came to the planes where men built big stone buildings that remind it to the original rocky places they use to habitate. It is a small bird 13–14.5 cm in length and 12–20 g in weight. The adult male is overall dark grey to black on the upperparts and with a black breast; the lower rump and tail are orange-red, with the two central tail feathers dark red-brown. The belly and undertail are blackish-grey in the western subspecies; see Systematics. The wings are blackish-grey with pale fringes on the secondaries forming a whitish panel in the western subspecies. The female is grey overall except for the orange-red lower rump and tail. The grey axillaries and underwing coverts are also distinctive. One-year old males are similar to females but blacker; the whitish wing panel does not develop until the second year.