Phoenicurus ochruros
Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on François Desbordes' illustration · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black Redstart sighting in Sundarbans National Park on a given day, based on 21 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 128th most-seen of the 177 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black Redstart in Sundarbans National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April and July–February, the lowest months. That is one of Sundarbans National Park's driest months, with about 45 mm of rain against 480 mm in July. May and June have 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.
41st of 42
Of the 42 parks where we can rate Black Redstart sightings, Sundarbans National Park ranks 41st at under 5%. 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.
Same family: Muscicapidae
The closest relatives of the Black Redstart that you can see in Sundarbans National Park (family Muscicapidae, Old World Flycatchers, Robins, and Chats) are Oriental Magpie-Robin (about 50%) and Taiga Flycatcher (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black Redstart is recorded against all the birds logged in Sundarbans National Park (21 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.
