Family:
The American redstart is a medium-sized warbler with a relatively wide, flat bill and a long tail. It is not related to the (common) redstart). Males are mostly black with bright orange patches on the sides, wings, and tail, and white bellies. Females have yellow patches and a grey head and underparts, olive back and wings, and dark grey tail.
American redstarts never seem to be still and spend their time at the middle of wooded habitats and forest edges flushing out insects before catching them in the air.
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American redstarts mainly feed on insects, including moths, caterpillars, flies, leafhoppers, beetles, wasps, spiders, and aphids which they catch in the air. They will also pluck them from foliage and crevices. Occasionally they will eat seeds and berries.
During breeding season American redstarts are found in southern Canada and the eastern United States. They inhabit open canopy in deciduous forest and open woodland, sharing its foraging habitats with other warblers. The migrate south, spending winters in Central America, the West Indies, and northern South America in woody habitats. They are often found in shade-grown coffee plantations.
