American Redstart, tail flared
Setophaga ruticilla
American Redstart · Green-Wood Cemetery · 29 August 2026
An American Redstart at Green-Wood at the end of August with the tail snapped open, the yellow patches at the base of the feathers doing exactly the job they are built for. Redstarts breed in the deciduous woods of the East and Canada and pass through Brooklyn in numbers on the way to the Caribbean, feeding hard as they go.
The flash is meant to startle insects out of cover so the bird can chase them down. Redstarts feed this way constantly, fanning the tail and drooping the wings as they move through the foliage, and the habit is as good a mark as the colour. The yellow rather than orange makes this a female or a first-year bird; adult males are black and flame-orange.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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