Fun Painted Redstart Facts For Kids

The Painted Redstart, Myioborus pictus, belongs to the Parulidae family. The Painted Redstart bird is also referred to as the Painted Whitestart. These birds are native to the southern parts of the United States, southern portions of Mexico, and northern parts of Latin America ranging from Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. The habitats include oak and pine forests at a height of 2000-3000 m within arid and semi-arid regions. Breeding happens from April-June and the males tend to attract mates by flying displays, tail fanning, and singing. Pairs are formed for breeding and three to four cream-colored eggs are laid. The birds are black in color with a red chest and belly and white tail and wings. Juveniles are brownish-gray, unlike adults. These birds hunt in dense oak and pine forests and canyons. Migration tends to happen in winters. This species is quite interesting to know about and if you are interested, read our bird guide about the metallic starling and blue grosbeak too.

What type of animal is a Painted Redstart?

The Painted Redstart is a bird.

What class of animal does a Painted Redstart belong to?

The Painted Redstart belongs to the class of Aves of birds, order Passeriformes, family Parulidae, and has the scientific name Myioborus pictus.

How many Painted Redstarts are there in the world?

There has been no specific number of these birds that have been recorded as yet.

Where does a Painted Redstart live?

These species are native to the southern parts of the United States, southern portions of Mexico, and northern parts of Latin America. These North-American birds are primarily Mexican species and thus, are commonly found in parts of New Mexico.

What is a Painted Redstart's habitat?

Painted Redstarts, the North American birds are found at a height of about 2000-3000 m in forests of pine-oak and pinyon-juniper. They are found in lower elevations during winter. Other habitats include oak and oak-pine forests or woodlands within arid to semi-arid woodlands.  

Who do Painted Redstarts live with?

Most species are found in flocks after breeding and sometimes during migration.

How long does a Painted Redstart live?

It is believed that these birds can live up to seven years in the wild.

How do they reproduce?

Breeding takes place from April-June and these birds are considered to be primarily monogamous but sometimes polygamous. Courtship includes tail fanning and singing. Males reach the nesting site before the females and tend to perform a flying display to attract females at the nesting site. Pairs are formed mostly one day after courtship. Nests are built by the females on the ground under trees and rocks. The nest is built with materials like grasses, weed stalks, bark shreds, and hair. The building of nests can take four days to two weeks. Between three and seven eggs are laid and the gestation periods last for up to 13 days. Eggs are cream in color with brown speckles and these eggs are only incubated by females. The young ones leave the nest after 9-13 of hatching.

What is their conservation status?

The status of these birds is Least Concern. Their population is not thought to be in any danger.

What do Painted Redstarts look like?

These birds mostly have glossy or shiny black plumage with red color on the lower breast and belly. The legs and bill of this bird are also black. In contrast, there are white feathers on the lower eye-crescents, the wings, and outer tail feathers, unlike the American Redstart. Males tend to be slightly larger than females. Unlike adults, juvenile Painted Redstart, Myioborus pictus, has sooty-like brownish-gray plumage which gets lighter as it reaches under-tail converts and belly. They also lack the bright red plumage but have similar white feathers to adults.

How cute are they?

These birds are considered cute because of their black, red, and white color.

How do they communicate?

These birds tend to communicate through calls and songs. The voice calls sound like 'chwee' and the second syllable is high pitched. The courtship calls are different than the normal ones which are a combination of low and high-pitched calls. There is an alert call too. Both males and females are capable of singing and sing duets during courtship.

How big is a Painted Redstart?

A Painted Redstart, Myioborus pictus bird can weigh up to 0.022 lb (0.0098 kg) and are about 5.9 in (150 mm) long.

How fast can a Painted Redstart fly?

The exact speed of this species is unknown but they are known to be quite good flyers as they forage mid-air.

How much does a Painted Redstart weigh?

The weight of the Painted Redstart range up to 0.022 lb (0.0098 kg).

What are their male and female names of the species?

There are no specific names for the male and female of the species.

What would you call a baby Painted Redstart?

There is no particular name for the offspring of this bird. It can simply be called a baby Painted Redstart.

What do they eat?

The Painted Redstart diet primarily includes insects but they also eat tree sap in summer and take sugar water and peanut butter-suet mixture at feeders in winters. This bird captures prey by gleaning, hover gleaning, and hawking. These species prey in dense woods and canyons and their bottoms and also pick up insects from low tree trunks.

Are they friendly?

As these birds are wild and live in forests, it is unknown if these birds tend to be friendly or not.

Would they make a good pet?

These birds have not been kept as pets as they are wild birds and thus, there is not much information available about these species as pets.

Did you know...

Predators of this bird include common ravens, mammals like chipmunks, and reptiles like rattlesnakes. These predators are around the nest and take the nestlings or eggs of these species.

The response to predators includes quick mobbing such as wing and tail flicking and calling. The painted Redstart rare predator effect is quite popular and has been studied by many.

It is believed that these species use the tail fanning techniques to display white plumage to elicit responses in the prey such as arthropods.  

These species being insectivores, control the insect populations. Parasitic species such as bronzed cowbird and brown-headed cowbird play a role in brood parasitism.

It is also believed that these birds attract ecotourism because of their bold color and unique songs.

The territories of the species are around 1.7 hectares, but the home range is defined two to three days after arriving from winter migration grounds.

Similar species like Lark Bunting is larger than the Painted Redstart with a longer bill and white crescent. The Red-faced Warbler is red only till its face and not till belly, unlike the Redstart bird.

The American Redstart has orange patches in the wings and tails unlike the white outer tail feathers patches on the Painted Redstarts.

Where does a Painted Redstart build their nest?

Nests are built on the ground under trees and rocks with materials like grasses, weed stalks, bark shreds, and hair, and these nests are used for a long time as the young ones stay in the nest for some time after hatching.

What does a Painted Redstart hunt for?

These Redstarts hunt for insects or arthropods. These birds are foragers or feeders at all levels, from grounds and treetops.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other birds including palm warbler, or swallow.

You can even occupy yourself at home by drawing one on our painted redstart coloring pages.