Okay - I can be stupid at times, I am talking about the times when one could not have walked up to a computer and asked 'Miss Google' to give the right answer - the way my kids do today. Birdwatching in India, atleast in those times that I am talking about was not very fashionable.
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| Black Redstart |
I used to regularly see this black and red bird in India, especially in winters that I really, really admired. From the few dozen books I could procure on wildlife I came to know the name of the bird - Black Redstart. Now came the second part of the problem - what the hell do you make out of this name - and I was a kid back then mind you...
I was crazy enough to even go to the extent of thinking - Redstart would mean - this bird moving its tail akin to - say the way I used to kick start my Bajaj Scooter. Alas now that I know - I was just 50% right. The right part was - that it refers to the tail of the bird - and the wrong part was that it had nothing to do with the wacky tail movement that it has...
Okay here goes the wiki intelligence of mine… Redstarts are a group of small Old World Birds that were in the thrush family some time back but are now part of Old World Flycatchers. Most of these birds have Red tails and the group name has ‘start’ that is modern English reflex of Middle English ‘stert’, Old English ‘sterot’, that is the tail of the animal. So you get it ? it refers to Red Tails... These birds are long distance winter migrants to Indian Subcontinent. Though having seen this beautiful bird so many times - I still did not have a trophy in terms of a beautiful picture that I so badly desired. Then it was one of the hot days of receding winters that one bird obliged, and oblige it did.
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| Black Redstart (male) |
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| Okay - that was the last one... |
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