Phoenicurus fuliginosus
Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on François Desbordes' illustration · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The plumbeous water redstart (Phoenicurus fuliginosus) is a passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is found in South Asia, Southeast Asia and China. Males are slate blue in colour, while females are grey. The bird's common name refers to its colour which resembles lead. They tend to live near fast-moving streams and rivers.
The plumbeous water redstart belongs to the order Passeriformes and the family Muscicapidae. It was previously placed in the genus Rhyacornis but was moved to Phoenicurus based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010. The species consists of two recognized subspecies – Phoenicurus fuliginosus fuliginosus and Phoenicurus fuliginosus affinis. The former was described by Nicholas Aylward Vigors in 1831, while the latter was described by William Robert Ogilvie-Grant in 1906 and is found in Taiwan. In China, the female and first-year male redstarts appear more brown at the top, leading to the possibility of classifying them as a separate race tenuirostris.
The plumbeous water redstart is typically 14 centimetres (5.5 in) long in total, with an average weight of 22 grams (0.78... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Namdapha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Langtang National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 3 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 4 | Jiuzhaigou National Park | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 5 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 6 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Doi Inthanon National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 8 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Royal Bardia National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 10 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leofoo Village Theme Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 2 | Fonghuanggu Bird and Ecology Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Plumbeous Water Redstart sighting in Jiuzhaigou National Park on a given day, based on 99 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 20th most-seen of the 131 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Plumbeous Water Redstart in Jiuzhaigou National Park on a given day, against about 20% in April–May and November–December, the lowest months. That is one of Jiuzhaigou National Park's wettest months, with about 150 mm of rain against 15 mm in December. January to March have too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Plumbeous Water 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.
4th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Plumbeous Water Redstart sightings, Jiuzhaigou National Park ranks 4th at about 30%. The best odds are in Namdapha National Park (India, about 40%), Langtang National Park (Nepal, about 40%) and Taroko National Park (Taiwan, about 30%).
Same genus: Phoenicurus
The closest relatives of the Plumbeous Water Redstart that you can see in Jiuzhaigou National Park (genus Phoenicurus, True Redstarts) are White-throated Redstart (about 50%), Blue-fronted Redstart (about 30%) and Daurian Redstart (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Plumbeous Water Redstart is recorded against all the birds logged in Jiuzhaigou National Park (99 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.
