Blue Rock Thrush, Extremadura

One evening we were walking through the Cork Oak woodlands above the Finca, Golden Oriels and Nightingales were in full song. Hawfinches also breed in these woods in numbers, we could hear their sharp 'PIX' as they flew among the tree tops, very difficult to see and only visible when they dropped down into the Olive Groves to feed on old olive stones and mast. Serins were singing relentlessly, they really are a very vocal little bird and Azure Winged Magpies were trilling as they flew among the Olive trees. What a lovely place to spend an evening, with only the birds for company. We were making our way back down for a cold one when Susan said 'Stop', 'What is it' I said. She whispered, 'Blue Rock Thrush in the tree in front of us'
Wow, a very awkward and shy bird to photograph, I could hear it singing now, a song I wasn't familiar with previously. We tucked in against the old stone wall of the Olive Grove and waited. What happened next really surprised me because these birds will usually fly away, but this one flew and landed about fifty feet away on the stone wall. I couldn't believe it, I shot him immediately and after a few seconds he flew back up onto the rocks high above the track never to be seen again by us.
What a stroke of luck we could so easily have missed him!