Female American Redstart
Setophaga ruticilla
American Redstart · Central Park · 21 September 2025
A female American Redstart in Central Park in September, passing through on migration from the northern woods to the Caribbean. Redstarts breed in second-growth deciduous forest across the East, and Central Park in September is a stopover for thousands of them.
Olive-grey rather than the adult male's black, with the same yellow flash through the wing and tail. She is fanning the tail out here to show exactly the pattern that is meant to startle insects into moving. Redstarts are the most flycatcher-like of the warblers, with bristles at the base of the bill to help them catch what they flush.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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