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Blue Rock Thrushes are relatively large flycatchers. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. Males are bluish-grey all over, except the wings, which are dark-grey. Females have a grey-brown crown and nape of the neck. The rest of the back, uppertail and upperwings is also homogeneous grey-brown. The front lores, ear coverts and chin downward is finely barred dark grey-brown on lighter brown. Both sexes have dark irises. The long, straight and slender bill is dark-grey; the legs and feet are also dark-grey.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Blue Rock Thrush is available HERE .

Blue Rock Thrushes are permanent residents in the near-coastal parts of North-west Africa, in particular the Atlas mountain range, and along the northern Mediterranean near-coastal areas, plus parts of inland Spain, basically all of Italy and all of Greece, plus the western and southern coastline of Asia Minor. They are also found permanently along the eastern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. Their distribution continues eastward throughout subtropical Asia to Korea and Japan in the far East. During the summer they extend their breeding range into the higher parts of mountain ranges (Atlas, Alps) and much of Asia Minor (except the central part) right into the Caucasus mountains and further south-eastward. The Asian population (from Asia Minor via western and central Asia to northern China and Malaysia) are migratory, wintering in parts of south-eastern Asia, India, Arabia and sub-Saharan Africa.

In Europe Blue Rock Thrushes are sedentary in near-coastal mountainous regions of the Mediterranean, from parts of Iberia, via the Mediterranean islands, the Cote d'Azure, the Apennine mountains in Italy, and the Adriatic coastline to most of Greece and southern Bulgaria. They are found as breeding migrants in some areas of the Alps.

Blue Rock Thrushes are often found in mountainous terrain, but are found along rocky coastlines, in quarries, ruins and other stony habitats as well.

J. Pires reports finding Blue Rock Thrushes occasionally in various parts of southern to central Portugal.

M. Eaton reports spotting Blue Rock Thrushes in Mequinenza, Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, in September 2019.

G. Normand found a Blue Rock Thrush at Tete de Chien, Cap d'Ail, Alpes-Maritimes, France, in February 2021.

G. Normand also found a pair of Blue Rock Thrushes at Kruje, Albania, in August 2021.

More photos presented on this page were taken by D. Wilczynska on the southern slopes of the Caucasus in Georgia in June 2018.

A Blue Rock Thrush was previously spotted by us in Oman.