Redstart – Phoenicurus p. phoenicurus

Showing characters of both sexes!

On the morning of March 29 th 2005 we were ringing passerines in the organic garden in Kibbutz Lotan.

At around six in the morning we noticed a Redstart flying into a mist net. While extracting the bird we were shocked to find that the bird showed plumage features supporting both sexes. As nature has it this is clearly not the case. Most logically the bird is a first summer male, with some kind of pigment disorder or problem that affects exactly half of the bird's body. It was quite shocking to see just how defined the border between the two plumages is on one individual bird.

Based on plumage we believe the Redstart to be of the nominate ssp (phoenicurus), but basing the subspecific identification of this bird on its plumage is problematic, so we let it go. The Redstart was processed (by Yoef Kiat) photographed and released, and was seen in the field several times during that morning.

This was my first encounter with such a phenomenon and I am interested to know about any other similar experiences other birders/ringers had.

I am attaching the images of the bird and will be happy to receive any comments to: Jm2bird@yahoo.com

Click the pictures to enlarge [+]

Photos courtesy of Liron Ziv

Jonathan Meyrav

KLCB – Lotan Israel .

Contact info

Daphna Abell
Program Coordinator
lotan-programs@lotan.ardom.co.il
Tel: +972 8 6356935;
Toll Free: 1800 2000 75 (when in Israel)