The birds you see in the Atlas Mountains

It's a robin, of some description.

And it's not perched on holly, therefore it's (unusually) not in an Xmas scene?

Hi,

Since it was taken in the Atlas mountains I'm tempted to identify it as the N. African endemic Moussier's Redstart (Phoenicurus moussieri).
It apparently has a thin bill, the primary projection looks short and the tail lenght looks short as well in comparison with the other Phoenicurus I'm familiar with (mainly P. ochruros and, to a lesser degree, also P. phoenicurus).
If it is such species, its certainly not an adult male, and likely not a 1st winter one. Could it be a female? Probably yes.

Pedro Cardia

I'm guessing that it's a female black redstart Phoenicurus ochruros.

I don't know anything interesting about it (passerines, feh), and I'm not sure just what species it is, but I have a potentially interesting question. How, before I even noticed the red tail, and based entirely on the silhouette of this execrable photo, was I able to decide that it was some kind of thrush? (I don't know the answer; I merely provide the question.) OK, geography is some clue, and rules out a number of potentially confusing taxa. But still.

Well, if it is a redstart, i can tell you that it used to be known in Britain as the Red-arse, but the Victorians bowdlerised (sp?) its common name to the current one. Similarly the White-arse (Oenanthe) was turned into the Wheatear.

John - if i remember rightly, the subfamily containing (European, not American) robins, chats, redstarts etc (not sure about wheatears) was actually moved a few years ago from the thrush family to the Muscicapidae (Old World flycatchers)...

John - that's birder's biggest secret, we're not giving it up!

shiva - I think thrushes (Turdidae) are sister to Muscicapidae anyway, and there's a lot of blurriness between those families.

Photoshop's "Shadows and Highlights" adjustment helps with photos like this.

I think it's a young male Black Redstart, P. ochruros.

Moussier's Redstart seems to have more red on the underparts.

I initially thought female Moussier's Redstart but the eye-ring, absent eye-stripe, and pale wing-patch all suggest Black Redstart. The reddish underparts push me back towards Moussier's: a juvenile male.

I seem to be coming late to this party, but I think this is a black redstart.

The red undertail coverts, pale wing panel, pale vent and greyish belly and flanks all suggest this.

Adult Moussier's Redstart has reddish orange breast, flanks and belly, as do common redstarts (though the Moussier's I have seen have always been much more vivid than Commons, and adult male Moussier's have conspicuous white head markings). I can see no orange/red on flanks and belly of this bird, and while some races of black redstart have red belly/flanks, the race 'gibraltensis' which occurs in western Europe in the summer, and winters in North west Africa (inc the Atlas region) does not, and is greyish as shown in the photo.

I have only three reservations (1) I have never seen a juvenile Moussier's - but don't think it is one, but I guess that could catch me out; (2) the apparent light leading edge on the wing - though I suspect that is a trick of the light (3) the ear-coverts in the picture appear somewhat reddish - in an adult male black redstart that should be dark, blackish-grey - however immatures do - so that combined with the pale wing panel, suggests a male black redstart that is almost in mature plumage but which retains some elements of juvenile.

And now Darren will show us its something else entirely and I'll look a total plonker :)

Given how dark the bill appears in the photo, I would say it is not a Black Redstart. The white ring around the eye leads me to believe it's a Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus). It's true that her breast plumage isn't as red as it could be, but that could just mean that she hasn't been eating well.
All I can really tell you about old world Redstarts is that they belong to the family Muscicapidae, the systematics of which are a mess.

Redstarts and Black Redstarts have been known to hybridize in the wild and beget fertile offspring. Moreover, Black Redstarts demonstrated preference to stand on a platform rather than cling/hang onto perches (while Redstarts are not selective about perching substrata).

Turdidae has from time to time been submerged as a subfamily within Muscicapidae. Lately we find that many supposed turdids are really muscicapids, and many supposed muscacapids are really turdids. And yes, they are sister groups.

See, for example,

Voelker, G., and J. Klicka. 2008. Systematics of Zoothera thrushes, and a synthesis of true thrush molecular systematic relationships. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 49:377-381.

Voelker, G., and G. M. Spellman. 2004. Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA evidence of polyphyly in the avian superfamily Muscicapoidea. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 30:386-394.

Darren:

can you tell me something interesting about it?

Since we now all(?) agree that it's a black redstart, here's something interesting about it: the British black redstart population increased as a direct consequence of the Second World War. These birds found plenty of new suitable nesting sites in the ruins of bomb-damaged buildings (Fitter 1941, 1945).

References:

Fitter, R.S.R. 1941. Effect of the war on bird life. Nature 148, 59-60.

Fitter, R.S.R. 1945. Londonâs Natural History, Collins New Naturalist Library, London.