Which of the Two is a Blue Rock Thrush

[Toto Gamboa]

Hi guys, I am a bit confused here now. The following birds, I think, are not the same.





The first image is basically a small bird, basically the almost the same size of a eurasian tree sparrow. However, the second one, is more than twice the size of the first. it is a bit bigger than the usual zebra dove that I often see but smaller than a spotted dove. Does this mean the larger one is a more mature blue rock thrush or are entirely different birds.

Thanks mga masters!

[Ding Carpio]

Not sure about mature/immature differences. But I think the brown one is a female while the blue one is a male.

[Romy Ocon]

In many bird species, difference in age and/or sex can account for varying relative size.

[Toto Gamboa]

i'll try to post some shots with different angles of the 2 birds, including the female version when I get back to manila. i still suspect these two to be different birds. even the way they fly are largely different.

[Neon Rosell II]

;D he he he, Panyero, were you viewing it with the same lens or were they viewed from the same distance? Sometimes the size will look different if viewed from different distances and just retrieved from memory. First photo is female, second male ;D

[Toto Gamboa]

Nov 1, 2008 8:21:28 GMT Neon Rosell II said:

;D he he he, Panyero, were you viewing it with the same lens or were they viewed from the same distance? Sometimes the size will look different if viewed from different distances and just retrieved from memory. First photo is female, second male ;D

hehe. I must be getting old each day. There were actually eurasian tree sparrows on the same roof where I got the shots but never bothered taking shots at them since my attention is on this rather "large" bird. But yeah .. I could be wrong

Here is another shot of the second bird.



And the following shots are those of the companion of the first bird.





This pair just suddenly came out of my view as I stalk another bird.

[Romy Ocon]

The last two are of a female Pied Bushchat, the rest are unmistakeably Blue Rock-Thrush.

[Toto Gamboa]

Nov 2, 2008 1:09:49 GMT Romy Ocon said:

The last two are of a female Pied Bushchat, the rest are unmistakeably Blue Rock-Thrush.

I guess that clears things up thanks masters!

[Ding Carpio]

The Female Pied Bushchat in your last post is a totally different bird from the female Blue Rock-Thrush in your first post. Could you have mixed up the photos?

[Toto Gamboa]

Nov 2, 2008 7:53:01 GMT Ding Carpio said:

The Female Pied Bushchat in your last post is a totally different bird from the female Blue Rock-Thrush in your first post. Could you have mixed up the photos?

No. Both birds (1 and 4,5) actually came out in the same bush probably around 8 to 10 meters from me. Both are identical in size and their flying pattern is just the same (that jerky bouncy flying). They are just inches to a few feet from each other most of the time so there is no way I could have missed the size difference and their flying pattern. I was actually attempting to have them shot in a single frame but that opportunity never came.

Pics 4 and 5 are from the same bird. I actually thought they were pairs (the blue rock thrush and the female pied bushchat) so I even checked out if there was a nest or something but there was none. And they remained near the bush while I was stalking the Gray Heron.

In fact, this prompted me to ask (birdphotoph.proboards107.com/index.cgi?board=id&action=display&thread=1885) if the first bird was a bush chat of a different kind but as per ID, it was another blue rock thrush. Perhaps maybe, both birds were sharing the bush to relieve them of the heat of the sun. ;D As per the size difference of birds 1 & 2, that is another story. I am quite sure bird in pic #2 is more than twice the size of bird in pic #1.

Based on the other pics of the blue rock thrush I found in the web, I guess the bird in pic #2 is unmistakably that of a blue rock thrush.