Black Redstarts are urban specialists in Europe, the bombed-out cityscapes of post-WWII Britain temporarily expanded their range as they took to ruined buildings.
Males have a slate-black body with the family-signature rust-orange tail; females are gray-brown.
They're tied to rocky habitats. Both natural cliffs and the man-made equivalents (factories, ports, ruins).
Black Redstarts are urban specialists, if you live near industrial brownfields or rocky country, you may already attract them. Garden settings rarely work.
An open shelf high (5+ m) on a wall of a brick or stone building can be used. They prefer rough vertical surfaces.
Stark stony surfaces with sparse low vegetation, counterintuitive for most garden birds.
Insects only. Native flowering plants for insects.
Don't expect them in lush traditional gardens; they'll prefer your neighbor's industrial yard.
An open-rocky-country songbird of Europe, North Africa, and central Asia, increasingly common in industrial and urban areas.
Common breeder across central and southern Europe; partial migrant from northern parts.
Small population (~100 pairs) breeding in industrial and urban sites in southern and eastern England.
Northern birds winter around the Mediterranean basin.
Rocky outcrops, cliffs, mountain valleys, and human-built equivalents, quarries, factories, train yards, urban ruins.
No entrance hole, no front wall, just a sheltered ledge. Includes drainage and the integrated mounting tab.
Shop the lineupPartial migrant, UK / NW European birds short-distance migrants; central / southern European birds largely resident.