Amateur photographer may have captured first US sighting of rare Blue Rock Thrush

VANCOUVER, Wash. (TND) — A middle school band teacher from the Pacific Northwest may have stumbled upon one of the most important events of the year for the natural world.

If the photos that Michael Sanchez, 41, a band teacher from Vancouver, Washington, took are completely verified, the amateur photographer will have captured the first-ever sighting of the Blue Rock Thrush in North America.

The bird, known for its vibrant, cerulean blue top coat and rugged, earthy feathering on its lower body, is thought to only live naturally in the Eastern Hemisphere: specifically near the Mediterranean coast as well as parts of the Arabian Peninsula, parts of South Central Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, the Indochinese Peninsula, the Southeast Asian Islands and up through parts of China, the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

There was an alleged sighting of the Blue Rock Thrush in North America in British Columbia, Canada, in 1997, but ornithological experts and members of the birding community were unable to verify whether it was an escaped cage bird or a truly free occurring.

Sanchez told The National Desk that the singular encounter was a happy accident in the midst of his first real photography trip since picking up a camera at the start of April.

"I had a trip planned there [to Cannon Beach] for several months ... I said, 'Well, while I'm down in Cannon Beach, I'll bring my camera and practice taking shots of the beach at sunrise, at sunset," he explained.

A friend recommended that Sanchez go down to Hug Point to shoot pictures of the beaches and waterfalls in that area. While Sanchez would photograph the cascading streams, he did not get the shots he wanted.

He returned to the beach just before sunrise the next day, and after he finished his shots of the surf and sand, he "saw this little bird standing on the sand behind me. As a new photographer, you want to photograph everything. So, I said, 'I'm going to photograph this little bird.'"

In the early morning dawn, Sanchez could not even make out the resplendent plumage of his new fine-feathered friend. It was only when he had returned home and begun processing his photos that he realized the bird's beauty and alien nature.

So, like anyone seeking information in 2024, he posted a photo of the bird online -- specifically, to his personal Facebook page -- and sought help from his friends and followers in identifying the bird. One of his friends, who is friends with passionate birders in the Pacific Northwest, quickly got Sanchez in touch with the birding community. From there, the photos soared into popularity in birding circles and then online.

"It was very quickly impressed upon me how rare this bird is, and where it's from, and all that," he recalled. "It's been a wild roller coaster ride ever since."

Official birding organizations like the Oregon Bird Records Committee and Oregon Birding Association are still processing the photos and the comprehensive report he filled out about the sighting, to fully verify the sighting at the state level. From there, greater national bird-based praise awaits.