Monday, June 25, 2012

Black redstarts

It's difficult to use the terrace for a couple of weeks, because the black redstart family is in their summer residence at the top of a column under the roof. The chicks grow very fast, and the parents have to feed them frequently; when anyone goes out on the terrace they stop the feeding process and click shrill warnings to the chicks to stay still. I worry that if we disturb them too often or for too long the chicks will starve.

Black redstarts are called rougequeue noir (black red-tail) in French, but here they are known as rossignol des murailles (nightingale of the outside walls). Pretty!

The camera needs replacing, so there are no photos of Musatelier's rossignols des murailles, but you can see what they look like on http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rougequeue_noir.

3 comments:

Diversimuso said...

I remember them clearly! I think I may have been there the first time you noticed them. In a way, it feels like only yesterday - but must have been quite a while ago!

sunflowerinrain said...

Yes, that was the first time; I'd been away the previous year and not seen them.

Do you remember stopping the car in the entrance because the hoopoes wouldn't move out of the way?

And your next visit is... ? :)

Crystal Wolf said...

I didn't know how they were called o.o