Female or Juvenile
Breeding maleThe above two photographs of the Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) are of the same species, however, the upper one is either a juvenile or a female, while, the lower one a breeding male.
The bird is pretty much wide spread in Europe while, being a migratory one in UK. In India, it is both a local resident, as well as a winter visitor. The red colour under the tail gives an appearance of a bird on fire, when it takes off or when landing.
The bird was seen feeding insects, and was very shy of my presence. It took me a very long time to get close enough to the bird for a clear view. Both the birds were probably migrating to Africa from Europe, as they landed on board, when we were en route from Libya to Italy.
The first photograph was clicked in the evening. The setting sun like always, not only has a nice warm hue to it, but also, gives a lot of contrast resulting in wonderful photographs.
