Like most warblers, the American Redstart is a petite bundle of energy unwilling to sit still for pictures. It appears in quick flashes, a blur of black and orange (the male) while flitting from tree to tree to forage for insects. Though dressed in the colors of Halloween (a frequent characterization), American Redstarts are rarely scary, except intentionally to one another during territorial fights. I suppose they also scare the insect kingdom, as they fan their expressive tail in order to drive out bugs from the leaves.
I was first made aware of their presence through Cornell’s Merlin app. For the past several seasons, I would pick up their sound in the trees west of the athletic fields in Inwood Hill Park and near the entrance of the Clove. Their quick high chip notes help distinguish them from the regular cast of the old-growth forest. I would hear them but never see them, though the bird guides claim the American Redstart is more conspicuous than other warblers.
I’ve changed my approach to finding American Redstarts over the past two weeks, and I am happy to say that I have actually seen them now and in more places. Leaving the sound function open for recording, I have familiarized myself with their song and therefore more able to follow their quick movements.
My first up-close encounter with American Redstarts occurred on an early evening walk on a trail that winds underneath the Henry Hudson Bridge and emerges on the west side with views of the Hudson River. In the golden hour before sunset, a male redstart appeared close to the trail in a small sapling, a favorite perch for this type of warbler. (cover image and top pictures from May 11, 2023)
The light of the setting sun enhanced its orange flashes. That evening we didn’t have a particularly colorful Hudson River sunset, the stuff of the famous school of Hudson Valley landscape painters, but the effect of the light was pleasing enough. In Spanish, they are called Candelita Norteña. In French, they are Paruline flamboyante.
In the following days, I saw an American Redstart up on the easternmost ridge near the end of 207th Street and also along the carved stepped path that descends from Inwood Hill down the Clove. As the male American Redstart is polygamous and may maintain separate territories, I may have been seeing the same bird over and over again. In the fall, the American Redstart will return just in time for Halloween preparations.
Cover photo: American Redstart in early evening. Inwood Hill Park. May 11, 2023
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