A small bird with a white patch on the wing, seen mainly in winter in Japan around farmland, riverbanks and open woodland edges.
The crown is greyish-white in males and greyish-brown in females. It makes a bowing motion and flicks its tail while perched.
The Daurian Redstart, long known as a winter visitor to Japan, has recently expanded its breeding range there. A 2013–2019 study in the Kirigamine Highlands of Nagano compared 25 buildings where nests were recorded at least once with 46 where none were found. Buildings used frequently by people were more likely to be used for nesting.
Yet within 80 m of nests, breeding sites were less likely in more built-up surroundings. Nests were associated with occupied buildings, while territories with less surrounding development were selected. The authors suggested that human presence might deter predators, while newer, larger buildings may offer fewer nesting gaps. They found no effect of forest or grassland cover; because the study area was already heavily forested, it could not assess how important those habitats are.
IUCN Red List · Least Concern (LC) · Global
Globally, the Daurian Redstart was assessed as Least Concern (LC) in the 2024 IUCN Red List assessment. Its global population size is unknown, but the population trend is considered stable and its range is very large.