Description:

Medium to large size, can appear rather shrike-like, tail can be held slightly cocked. Male has black mask and scapular line, grey crown, rufous throat and mantle, and white on wing; colours heavily obscured by pale fringes in non-breeding and first-winter plumages. Female has double buffish wing-bars and broad buff fringes to tertials.

Distribution:

Common winter visitor and passage migrant in the south and central Gilgit-Baltistan, absent in the east. Occurs in rocky scrub, fields with stone walls, sparse dry-ground coniferous woodland in mountains, and shrubbery in forest, usually below 3000m.

Behavior:

Forages by perch-and-pounce from low perch, and takes insects in aerial sallies; also moves about on ground or amid vegetation to glean invertebrates and pluck or pick up berries. Largely feeds on insects, especially adult and larval beetles and caterpillars. Outside breeding season, fruit and seeds are important.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Rufous-backed Redstart in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Rufous-backed Redstart

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.