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Moussier's Redstart (Phoenicurus moussieri)

Moussier's Redstart

Phoenicurus moussieri

Least Concern

Overview

Moussier's redstart is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae, specifically the smallest member of the redstart genus. It is an endemic resident breeder in the Atlas Mountains of northwest Africa.

Habitat

This species inhabits open woodland in rocky areas ranging from sea level up to 3000 m altitude in the Atlas Mountains of northwest Africa. While largely resident, some individuals at high altitudes exhibit limited altitudinal migration to lower levels during winter.

Diet

Primarily insectivorous, it forages by making aerial sallies after passing insects like a flycatcher, and also by picking or digging insects from the ground. More rarely, it will consume small berries.

Did you know?

Vagrants of this species have occasionally reached as far north as Great Britain, with a recorded instance in Dinas Head, Pembrokeshire, in April 1988.

Sources