Common Redstart

In June 2019 we had a firm trip to Iceland, Greenland and Denmark. Then Judy and split off at the end and traveled to Poland and Kaliningrad, an oblast of Russia, where my grandfather, Edwin Q. Cannon, served an LDS mission from 1907 to 1910. In a park near the Kaliningrad Cathedral I photographed a common redstart, my one and only, so far, of that species. 

There are two subspecies and I saw the nominate ssp. phoenicurus, found all over Europe and into Siberia. Redstarts get their name from their orange-red tails. "Start" is an old word for tail. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World.

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World.