On June 29, 2026 we were with Judy's family in Greece and taking a tour of Delphi (home of the famous Delphic oracle). Judy and I visited there in 2010, but it was fun to be there again. I didn't have my large camera, but had a small Canon point and shoot. We walked up through the beautiful ruins and I noticed a grayish-blue bird. It flew and landed several times and a number of my photos did not turn out well, but a couple were fine.
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| Blue rock-thrush |
The blue rock-thrush has six subspecies. The nominate ssp. is solitarius and I saw ssp. longirostris which is found in Greece, western and southern Turkey, the Levant, Afghanistan, and the northwestern Himalayas (northern Pakistan and Kashmir). It winters in Arabia, northeastern Africa and east to northwestern India. Longistiros is smaller than the nominate, the male is duller, paler and grayer. The female, which I did not see, is paler and less crisply marked. It breeds on "precipitous cliffs, in steep rocky valleys and defiles, ravines and gorges, on crags, outcrops, ...ruins..." The describes exactly the steep, rocky mountain, filled with ruins that is ancient Delphi.
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| Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. |
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| Illustration of a male (nominate) from Birds of the World. |
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| Range from Birds of the World. |
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