Doesn't the ocean seem a little flat for Cannon Beach in April?
On 2024-04-22 11:27 am, Nolan Clements 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.
Alan Contreras
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx
www.alanlcontreras.com [1]
"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
