[TN-Bird] Question about funny redstart

  • From: "Daniel Estabrooks" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "hyla514@xxxxxxxxx" for DMARC)
  • To: TN-Birds Bird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2015 13:03:29 +0000 (UTC)

Hey everybody,
This question is about a bird I saw in Florida, so not exactly on-topic, but 
American Redstart is a very common TN bird, so I'm hoping maybe somebody on 
this list can enlighten me...
The bird in question is one I saw yesterday at Key Largo Hammock BSP. It looked 
and acted exactly how you would expect for a dull young female American 
Redstart. Gray head, olive back, broken white eyering, dark lores, long wide 
tail, etc. It fanned its tail frequently like a redstart and did that funny 
"falling leaf" behavior typical of redstarts, where it would hover at a leaf 
and then flutter straight down several feet. So I'm confident it was an 
American Redstart.
However, what was weird about it was that it had NO YELLOW in the tail. Even 
when the tail was fanned, it was clearly 100% gray. I've never heard of a 
redstart in any plumage lacking yellow in the tail. How unusual is this? Has 
anyone else ever seen it?
Daniel EstabrooksWinter Haven, FL

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  • » [TN-Bird] Question about funny redstart - Daniel Estabrooks