Here’s more about the 1997 Blue Rock-Thrush from British Columbia. See top
of 4th page. Seems it was a male philippensis as well. Photographed on June
6th, 1997.
https://ibis.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/documents/Appendix-A-Questionable-%20Origin-%20Species-RT-JF-DC.pdf
On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 11:27 AM Nolan Clements <nolanclements@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I did a quick reverse image search to see if this was a case of someone
trying to identify a bird using pictures from Google. Nothing similar on
Google Images and I could not find this particular image in recent
photographs of Blue Rock Thrush in Macaulay Library.
I'm inclined to believe this photo is an original, but as Nick mentions,
it seems the concern is whether or not the photo was taken at Cannon Beach.
The sand and rocks look fine for that region's geology. My intuition is
that this is 100% legit.
Happy spring (chasing),
Nolan Clements
Corvallis, OR
On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 10:56 AM larspernorgren <larspernorgren@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
The current weather is highly favorable for a vagrant from the nw
Pacific. I'm willing to burn a variety of carbon compounds in pursuit once
the screenshot issue is resolved. I turned right (Portland, 40km) instead
of left (Cannon Beach , 80 km) at the end of my county road just after
Nick's initial missive.
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-------- Original message --------
From: Nicholas Mrvelj <nickmrvelj@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: 4/22/24 10:39 AM (GMT-08:00)
To: acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: OBOL <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [obol] Re: RBAish Blue Rock Thrush?
There was a Blue Rock-Thrush photographed in British Columbia in 1997 it
seems. It was not accepted by the ABA checklist committee.
https://www.aba.org/rare-bird-alert-july-2-2021/
Getting back to the photo, this individual is a male of the philippensis
race of E and SE Asia. Their distribution per BOTW:
“E Mongolia, NE China, Korea, Sakhalin, S Kuril Is, Japan, Ryukyu Is,
coastal Taiwan and N Philippines (Batanes Is); non-breeding SE China
(including Hainan and Taiwan), SE Asia and Philippines S to Sundas,
Moluccas and Palau.“
Here’s more information about the movements of philippensis Blue
Rock-Thrushes:
“Resident and/or full migrant in China and Japan; sedentary in Japan S
from C Honshu; S Korea populations non-migratory (or move short distances
to coastlines and islands), while those in SE Russia, NE China and N Korea
move S in winter. At Beidaihe, in NE China, may be commoner in spring than
in autumn…”
Making sure the photo was actually taken in Cannon Beach is the
unfortunate starting point it seems. If that can be verified, then we are
off to the subject of provenance. All that aside, I hope some folks can get
out today and scan the area. I see only one checklist from Cannon Beach
yesterday per eBird and there was unsurprisingly no mention of a Blue
Rock-Thrush.
Good birding,
-Nick Mrvelj
On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 10:02 AM Nicholas Mrvelj <nickmrvelj@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Whoa! Any chance you could share the original image as well? I’m off to
grab my popcorn.
Good birding,
-Nick Mrvelj (Portland)
On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 9:48 AM Alan Contreras <acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
This photo was sent to me by a friend. Her friend Michael Sanchez
reports that he took the photo yesterday morning at 9 at Cannon Beach. I
have blown it up a bit.
I have NO other information. Original photo has a sort of low
rocky-looking wall in foreground. I have asked if the observer can be
contacted.
[image: PastedGraphic-1.tiff]
Alan Contreras
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx
www.alanlcontreras.com
“The history of art doesn’t suggest … that great art gets made
by aligning one’s thought with everyone else’s.” Carl Phillips, in the
Yale Review, Spring, 2022
