Common Redstart
Phoenicurus phoenicurus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Order Passeriformes
Family Muscicapidae
Conservation status: in Bulgaria: Vulnerable VU C, BDA-II; International: ESC-Spec 2, BeC-II, BoC-II.
General distribution. A Palearctic species, over 50% of its area is in Europe. It winters in the region of Sahara.
Distribution and abundance in Bulgaria. A breeding summer visitor and passage migrant. In the past it was rare, with few established habitats to the south of the Balkan range [1]. At present, there are unconfirmed localiies in the mountains Vitosha and Lyulin, around the towns of Roman, Svoge, Berkovitsa, Zemen, Troyan, Svishtov, Balchik, the villages of Churicheni, Krupnik, Gurkovo, the river Kamchiya, the huts Barikadite and Partizanska [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. Today found in mountainous and low mountainous regions (Strandha, Vitosha, the Rila-Rhodope massif, Osogovska Planina, Etropolska Planina, Dragoevska Planina, the Balkan range, the plateaus Frangensko and Momino), less often in the valleys (along the Danube and the Black Sea coast) [12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]. Breeding in Bulgaria are 2 000 – 6 000 pairs, of the subspecies Ph. ph. phoenicurus and Ph. ph. samamisicus, the latter having been registered only along the Black Sea coast and in Strandzha mountain.
Habitats. Deciduous, mixed and riverside forests, parks, gardens and human settlements. Rarely in coniferous forests [18, 19] and rock habitats [6, 20].
Biology. It breeds in the hollows of trees, holes in walls and buildings [21, 22], rarely in rock cracks and niches, old nests of swallows [6; 20]. In other parts of the area it breeds in the roots of trees and along screes. It mainly feeds on insects (butterflies, beetles) and spiders and in the autumn also on small fruits [23].
Similar species. Phoenicurus ochruros (L. 1758)
Negative factors. Destruction of forest habitats and trees with hollows, increase of the inter-species competition [24, 25]. In Southern Europe, the decrease of the numbers is probably also due to the low breeding productivity [26].
Conservation measures taken. Protected according to the Biological Diversity Act. A small part of the population inhabits Protected Territories.
Conservation measures needed. Study of the distribution, the numbers, the biology and the ecology, aimed at particularizing the threats. Limitation of felling in places with a high density of the species. Placing houses at sites with declining numbers.
References. 1. Patev, 1950; 2. Harrison, 1933; 3. Simeonov, Delov, 1989; 4. Mountfort & Ferguson – Lees, 1961; 5. Petrov, 1980; 6. Paspaleva-Antonova, 1964; 7. Simeonov, Baeva, 1988; 8. Donchev, 1970; 9. Reiser, 1894; 10. Von Stephan Ernst, 1978; 11. Niethammer, 1934; 12. Milchev, 1994; 13. Shurulinkov, Hristov, 2001; 14. Georgiev, Milchev, 2000; 15. Nikolov, Vassilev, 2004; 16. Simeonov, Marinov, 1994; 17. Nikolov, Georgiev, in press; 18. Nankinov, 1997; 19. Nikolov, 2005; 20. Stoyanov, 1996; 21. Peshev, Boev, 1962; 22. Nikolov, 2002; 23. Snow & Perrins, 1998; 24. Flousek et al., 1993; 25. Hagemejier & Blair, 1998; 26. Jarvinen, 1981.
Authors: Stoyan Ch. Nikolov, Dimitar Georgiev
