Myioborus pictus

Geographic Range

Painted whitestarts, also referred to as painted redstarts ( Myioborus pictus ), are native to southern portions of the United States, southern portions of Mexico, and northern portions of Latin America. There are two subspecies: Myioborus pictus pictus and Myioborus pictus guatemalae . Myioborus pictus pictus is found from southwestern New Mexico and Arizona to Oaxaca and Veracruz within Southern central Mexico. Myioborus pictus guatemalae is found in Northern Nicaragua to Chiapas within Southern Mexico.

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic nearctic
  • native native
• neotropical neotropical
  • native native

Habitat

Painted whitestarts are found at an elevation of 2000 m to 3000 m in forest of pine-oak and pinyon-juniper. Commonly found in a lower elevation in winter. Central American habitat includes oak and oak-pine woodlands within arid to semihumid areas.

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest forest

Physical Description

Painted whitestarts have mostly glossy black plumage with carmine-red plumage on the lower breast and belly. Legs and bill are also black. There are contrasting white feathers on the lower eye-crescents, the wings, and outer tail feathers. Males and females are similar in plumage. Sexes differ slightly in measurements with males being slightly larger. Wing measurement of males range from 66-75 cm; females range from 66 to 71 cm. Tail measurements of males range from 60 to 68 cm; females range from 54 to 64.5 cm. Bill measurements of males and females both range from 8 to 9 cm. Tarsus measurements of both males and females range from 16 to 17.5 cm. The weight of both males and females range from 5.9 to 9.6 g. In comparison to adults, juvenile painted whitestarts have sooty brownish-grey plumage which becomes lighter on under-tail converts and belly. Juveniles lack vibrant red bellies. Juveniles have contrasting white feathers on lower eye-crescents, the wings, and outer tail feathers similar to adults.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

Reproduction

Painted whitestarts are predominately monogamous and occasionally polygynous.

• Mating System
• monogamous monogamous
• polygynous polygynous

Courtship consists of singing and also tail-fanning. Generally, males perform a flying display to attract a mate. Pair bonds usually are established one day after courtship. Before building a nest, male painted whitestarts tail-fan to signal to mate potential nesting sites. Searching for a nest site can last up to a week. Painted whitestart nests are usually built by the females on the ground under tree roots or under rocks. The nest is built using grasses, weed stalks, bark shreds, and lined with hairs. Construction of the nest can take four days to two weeks. Breeding occurs from April to June with three to seven eggs produced during the breeding season. The gestation period averages 13 days. About 4 eggs, which are cream-colored with brown speckles, are laid. Only the females incubate the eggs. The male does not feed the female while she is incubating.

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous iteroparous
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual sexual
• oviparous oviparous

Female painted whitestarts brood nestlings at night and during the day. They only depart to feed. To shade nestlings from sunlight, females will spread wings over the nest. Females and males both feed the nestlings, but predominately the females feed nestlings. Nestlings are fed mostly arthropods. Within the first four days, the females eats and removes the fecal sacs for nest sanitation. Males and Females alternate fledging their young. Often they form family groups with adults to move around the territory together once fledging begins.

• Parental Investment
• male parental care male parental care
• female parental care female parental care
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female

Lifespan/Longevity

There are no studies which reference average lifespan or longevity with the wild or captivity. However, one banded painted whitestart did return to the same feeder for eight consecutive winters which would make it at least seven years old. Also, there have been six banded birds to return one to two consecutive seasons which would make them two to three years old.

Behavior

The primary method of locomotion is flight. Pivoting and hopping is also common during foraging. Hops range from 10 cm to 30 cm. Hop speed is from 20 cm/s to 120 cm/s. Bathing behaviors consist of using streams. Adults sit in water with wings spread half way then proceed to shake full body and wings. Agonistic behavior consists of males countersigning to distance other males from their territory. When males are close often there will be displays of wing-and-tail-flicking that includes jumping. Males commonly flash white patches to opponents.

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal arboreal
• flies
• diurnal diurnal
• motile motile

Home Range

Home ranges are established two to five days after arriving from winter migration grounds. Generally territories average 1.68 ha.

Communication and Perception

Voice calls of painted whitestart consist of 'chwee''cheree';the second syllable being higher-pitched. The courtship call consists of a low 'tseeoo' and a high-pitched 'dee dee dee'.The alarm call consists of 'zeeeettt. The song consists of 'weeta weeta weeta wee'. Just like the males, females are capable of singing. Often painted whitestarts will duet with the males during courtship.

• Communication Channels
• visual visual
• acoustic acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile
• acoustic acoustic
• chemical chemical

Food Habits

Painted whitestarts primarily eat insects, but also consume tree sap in summer and intake sugar water and peanut butter-suet mixture at feeders in winter. Generally, painted whitestarts have three methods for food capture: hawking, gleaning, and hover gleaning. Painted whitestarts typically are foraging in densely wooded areas and canyon bottoms where it is shady. Primarily, painted whitestarts pick off insects from low tree trunks. Often painted whitestarts use tail-fanning technique to expose white plumage contrast to elicit response in prey such as arthropods.

• Primary Diet
• carnivore carnivore
  • insectivore insectivore

• Animal Foods
• insects

• Plant Foods
• sap or other plant fluids

Predation

Predators include birds such as common ravens, mammals such as chipmunks, and reptiles such as rattlesnakes. Commonly these predators would take eggs or nestlings. In response to predators, quick mobbing actions would occur such as wing and tail flicking, hoping, and calling.

Ecosystem Roles

Although there are no definite examples of ecosystem roles for Myioborus pictus , it is important to note birds have important roles in biological controls; painted whitestarts are insectivores which means they contribute to the control of insect populations. Parasitic species that play a role in brood parasitism are the bronzed cowbird ( Molothrus aeneus ) and brown-headed cowbird ( Molothrus ater ).

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Although there are no specific examples of economic importance for human, Myioborus pictus may attract ecotourism for bird watching due to its bold plumage and distinct song.

• Positive Impacts
• ecotourism ecotourism

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

There are no known adverse effect of Myioborus pictus on humans.

Conservation Status

Myioborous pictus has a low conservation priority.

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

Alejandra Perez (author), University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, Christopher Yahnke (editor), University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Tanya Dewey (editor), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

References

Barber, D., P. Barber, P. Jablonski. 2016. "Painted Redstat (Myioborus pictus)" (On-line). The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Accessed April 26, 2016 at http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/528/articles/introduction .

Curson, J., D. Quinn, D. Beadle. 1994. New World Warblers . London: Christopher Helm.

Jablonski, P. 1999. A rare predator exploits prey escape behavior: the role of tail-fanning and plumage contrast in foraging of the painted redstart (Myioborus pictus). Behavioral Ecology , 10: 7-14. Accessed April 26, 2016 at http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/content/10/1/7.full.pdf+html .

Parkes, K. 1961. Taxonomic Relationships among the American Redstarts. The Wilson Bulletin , 73: 374-379. Accessed April 21, 2016 at http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/wilson/v073n04/p0374-p0379.pdf .

2016. "Myioborus Pictus" (On-line). Encyclopedia of Life. Accessed May 01, 2016 at http://eol.org/pages/1051433/details .

2016. "The Importance of Birds" (On-line). Iowa Nature Mapping. Accessed April 26, 2016 at https://www.extension.iastate.edu/naturemapping/monitoring/Importance_Birds.htm .