First all, a big thanks to everyone that turned up yesterday for the first Free Nature Walk of 2019.
What an amazing morning out in the hills, the weather was almost hot, but certainly very warm and there were plenty of things to see. The one thing that got us excited was a dark black/blue bird that appeared a little too far away to ID. At first I thought it was a Starling, but then it stood upright like a Thrush. It disappeared before we managed to get a good view or shot of it and continued our walk. A few names were branded about and I mentioned the possibility of a Blue Rock Thrush. I have never seen one let alone locally to the house.
We continued our walk and the route brought us back past the same location on our return. I spotted it again, this time in full view albeit a long way, it was also now a view directly into the sun.
I snapped a photo but couldn’t tell from the image on the camera. This morning, I have cleaned the image up a little and gives a perfect view, I can now confirm it is indeed a Male Blue Rock Thrush. I visited the same location this morning, but couldn’t spot it but as these birds are resident in Portugal, I will keep an eye out for it and maybe stake out. It is possible that it will nest in this barn that it was spotted at.
Here is a tighter crop on the shot.
