Blue Rock-Thrush

The blue rock thrush is a chat, an Old World flycatcher formerly placed with the thrushes. It is a starling-sized bird, 21–23 cm long with a long slim bill. It breeds in southern Europe, north-west Africa, and from Central Asia to northern China and Malaysia, and is the national bird of Malta. Five subspecies are recognised, and a proposal to split the species in two followed papers published in 2004 and 2007 (Wikipedia, general species account). (Wikipedia, general species account).

The long song is a bit more common in the Asia group. Choi, et al., conducted a study of blue rock thrush population on Hongdo Island, South Korea from 2005-2009. They concluded habitat structure was more important than food availabity. In the first confirmed case of successful urban nest by M. solitarius, Rouibi, et al., conducted a study of M. solitarius in El Bouni, Algeria over three breeding seasons from 2016- 2018. (Wikipedia, general species account).