Bird of the year 2025 - The black redstart
The jittery one
This year, more people took part in the annual Bird of the Year poll organised by NABU once again. From 3 September to 10 October, 143,400 people voted for the black redstart as the new Bird of the Year 2025 with a narrow majority of 30.2%.
The black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) belongs to the order of sparrows, with the flycatchers forming its family. It is quite graceful and slender in build and reaches a body size of between 13 and 15cm. The males have grey-black plumage, while the females and young are more grey-brown in colour. One of its characteristic features, based on its name, is its rust-coloured tail. Its ‘tail trembling’ paired with ‘buckling’ legs shows a behaviour similar to that of the robin, which often makes it appear nervous and jittery to humans.
Niche finder
From its original habitat, the steep rock faces in the mountains of Central and Southern Europe, the black redstart is now also found in large numbers in settlement areas close to human habitation. It nests mainly in crevices and gaps of house facades, under eaves or bridges, in woodpiles or sheds. As long as the criteria of a stony, dry and warm resting place are met, the black redstart is undemanding. Therefore the bird is currently not endangered and has a breeding population of around 30% in Germany. This corresponds to around 800,000 - 1 million breeding pairs.
One particularly adventurous pair even bred in a whale skeleton in Stuttgart's Natural History Museum once.
Singing as defence mechanism
The black redstart can be heard as early as 70 minutes before sunrise. Its ‘song’ is described more as stertorous, crunching or rattling. In addition to singing in the morning and courting during mating season, the distinctive warbling of the black redstart is also used in territorial fights between rivals. Both, restrained threatening gestures and outright vocal duels or even attacks are used to keep enemies away.