Birds
Common Redstart
Phoenicurus phoenicurus · Codroș de pădure
A slim, red-tailed songbird of old woods, parks and forest edges.
At a glance
- Status in Romania
- Summer visitor
- Habitat
- Forest / Urban
- Activity
- Morning · Daytime
- Diet
- Invertebrates in the breeding season; outside it also berries and juniper seeds.
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)
- Photography difficulty
- Moderate
Photography Guide
Practical starting points based on the species’ behaviour and habitat, not fixed rules.
- Where and how to look
- Old trees at forest edges and in parks with cavities, from late April.
- Best time / activity
- Morning · Daytime
- Photography difficulty
- Moderate
- Starting shutter speed
- Around 1/1000 sec; the tail is always moving.
- Ethics
- Keep away from nests, do not use playback in the breeding season, and let the bird decide how close it comes.
Identification
The male has a black face, white forehead, grey back and orange breast; both sexes have a constantly quivering orange-red tail.
Habitat
Old deciduous or mixed woods, gardens, parks, clearings and forest edges with willows along streams.
Distribution
Patchy: the mountain and premontane Carpathians, river floodplains in the south and along the Danube, including the Delta. Absent in the west and on the large plains.
Approximate range in Romania
Diet
Invertebrates in the breeding season; outside it also berries and juniper seeds.
Behaviour
Both parents feed the young, which leave the nest after 12–15 days and are still fed for a while afterwards.
Seasonality in Romania
Breeds in Romania and is migratory. Usually arrives from April and leaves for its wintering grounds south of the Sahara towards the end of September or early October.
- JanUnknown
- FebUnknown
- MarUnknown
- AprPresent
- MayPresent
- JunPresent
- JulPresent
- AugPresent
- SepPresent
- OctUnknown
- NovUnknown
- DecUnknown
Source-verified months inform the seasonal filters. Local timing can vary. Unconfirmed months do not imply absence. * Event timing retained from the earlier entry, not yet source-verified.
Breeding
Breeds from late April to mid-July; 5–7 eggs incubated by the female for 12–14 days.