Phoenicurus ochruros
Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on François Desbordes' illustration · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. It is a widespread breeder in rocky habitats across Eurasia and North Africa, from the British Isles south to Morocco and east to central China. It is resident in the milder parts of its range, but northern and eastern birds migrate.
The first formal description of the black redstart was by the German naturalist Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin in 1774 under the binomial name Mottacilla ochruros. The species is now placed in the genus Phoenicurus that was introduced in 1817 by the English naturalist Thomas Forster. Both parts of the scientific name are from Ancient Greek and refer to the colour of the tail. The genus name Phoenicurus is from phoinix, "red", and -ouros -"tailed", and the specific ochruros is from okhros, "pale yellow" and -ouros. Obsolete common names include Tithys redstart, blackstart (not to be confused with the species currently known as blackstart) and black redtail.
The black redstart is a member of a temperate Eurasian clade, which also includes the Daurian redstart, Hodgson's redstart, the white-winged redstart and perhaps Przevalski's... Wikipedia →
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barcelona Zoo | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Aquarama Barcelona | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Maison des Vautours | 🇫🇷 France |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Black Redstart sighting in Hemis National Park on a given day, based on 81 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 7th most-seen of the 52 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Black Redstart in Hemis National Park on a given day, against about 20% in March and November–December, the lowest months. January has too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black Redstart sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 42
Of the 42 parks where we can rate Black Redstart sightings, Hemis National Park ranks 6th at about 50%. The best odds are in Vanoise National Park (France, about 80%), Hohe Tauern National Park (Austria, about 70%) and Picos de Europa National Park (Spain, about 70%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black Redstart is recorded against all the birds logged in Hemis National Park (81 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
