Plumbeous Redstart

Rhyacornis fuliginosa affinis

Endemic Subspecies

A small (13 cm), active bird found around streams and rivers.  The male is slaty-blue overall, with a rufous tail, rump and vent, a black bill and flesh-coloured legs.  The female is gray above, with two thin white wing-bars, white below with gray barring, a white rump and vent, and a black tail with white bases to the outer tail feathers.  The Plumbeous Redstart feeds on insects and insect eggs, which it finds along the edges of streams and rivers and on rocks in or near the water.  It forages on foot along the water’s edge or on rocks, occasionally wading into the water; it also makes short flycatching flights and snatches insects from the water surface.  Plumbeous Redstarts also eat some berries and seeds.  A notable habit of this species is its frequent opening and closing of its tail, scissors-like, and its wagging up and down.

In Taiwan, the Plumbeous Redstart breeds along boulder-strewn streams from 600-2000 meters elevation, and winters down to adjacent lowlands.  From a rock or in flight, the male sings a shrill, chirpy, cricket-like song on its territory, which consists of a stretch of stream or river.  Call notes include a sharp “ziet, ziet”.  The nest is a deep cup of roots, grasses, leaves and moss, lined with fine rootlets, fibres and even hair; it is placed near running water in a rock crevice, on a rock ledge or bridge overhang, in the side of a tree, etc.  The female lays 3-5 eggs.  The Plumbeous Redstart is a common resident of Taiwan in suitable stream habitat.

References:  Handbook of Birds of the World Vol. 10; A Field Guide to the Birds of China (Mackinnon and Phillipps)