American Redstart - 2019 or 2020 model year?

[RobinHood]

Southern Ontario today.

Just wondering if anyone knows how old this bird is - it seemed very independent if it is a recent arrival so I suspect it is a second year.

Thanks.

[akandula]

Yes, with that amount of black, this is a second-year male. Male American Redstarts take 2 to 3 years to develop full adult plumage.

[RobinHood]

32 minutes ago, akandula said:

Male American Redstarts take 2 to 3 years to develop full adult plumage.

As always, many thanks. I did do a search for their life cycle before posting but not much info out there, possibly need to subscribe for this level of detail (I had thought that the warbler sized birds reached maturity in their second year, wrong again). I did learn they have a high predation rate but seem to thrive nonetheless.

[birdbrain22]

Yes 2nd year bird. A first year bird at this time of year will look like the female. Some of this years male will have a few black specs in the fall(mostly on face) and the yellowish parts will be more orange(but this is certainly always not easy to tell in the field). The following spring(second year bird) will show much more black speckling(including on chest)... like this bird and many will be almost fully in adult male plumage by the second fall.... but some will wait until year 3 to show off their full beauty.