By Sally Siko

Here’s a bird I was happy to finally get a proper close up photo of, the American Redstart.
Although I’ve seen tons of these birds over the years, it wasn’t until my trip to Acadia Gardens on Mt.Desert in Maine, that I finally had an opportunity to spend some time with one from just a couple of feet away.
Usually Redstarts tend hunt for food high up in the tree canopy so to actually see one down low was a real treat.

As seen in this series of photos, the males are striking with black feathers and bright orange patches on their wings, tail, and sides. Females and young males are olive-gray with yellow patches instead of orange.
Going into late summer some American Redstarts will undergo a molt migration, where they’ll move to a different location to molt their feathers before continuing to their wintering grounds.
For now though it’s really cool to see these guys decked out in the splendor of their breeding plumage 🙂

American Redstarts are known for their active and acrobatic foraging style, they’ll often flick their wings and tail to flush out insects, which they catch in mid-air, snapping up a snack on the wing.
Their speediness can make them a difficult bird to photograph at times due to their diminutive size and habit of zipping back-and-forth behind leaves.

These guys breed primarily in eastern and central North America. This includes areas from southern Canada (Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec) down through the eastern United States (from Minnesota and Maine to Missouri and northern Georgia).
Smaller populations of Redstarts also breed in parts of the Pacific Northwest and the southwestern United States.

During migration, American Redstarts can be seen across a broad swath of North America, as they move between their breeding and wintering grounds.
These handsome birds will hang out down east until the first week of September before heading down to the Caribbean, Central America and South America for the winter.
I’m looking forward to seeing these handsome birds again in October when they pass through North Carolina.
Aren’t they lovely?

Photos by @sally_siko of @bestlife_birding on my mighty 50 megapixel monster, the @canonusa #5Ds