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| Conclusion: young male Verditer Flycatcher. Eumyias thalassina |
Came in through our open dining room door this morning. Maybe a Blue Rock-Thrush, though perhaps a little too small for that.
LATER (22 November): from Robert Ferguson of Wild Creatures Hong Kong:
Hiya, what a lovely bird.
Im pretty sure that is a verditer flycatcher…. One of my fave immigrants to photograph at this time of year….tho quite early.. [Robert’s photos] [Wikipedia]
ADDED: Mystery Bird
My comment: I’d be inclined to go from Robert’s modest “pretty sure” to my presumptuous “certain”, based on Robert’s pix and Wiki description — the copper-sulphate blue colour, dark patches and grey vents, which you can see clearly in my pic above. Also: according to the Mystery Bird link above, the only bird one might confuse the Verditer Flycatcher with is the Black-naped Blue Flycatcher, and she’s he’s clearly not that.
At the link to Robert’s photos he says they appear in the early months of the year, so this one is “quite early”. Given that this flycatcher moves in winter, does moving early suggest the the weather is warmer or cooler than usual? I’d have thought the logic suggests cooler, as that’s a signal to move, but it sure hasn’t felt cooler than usual. I’m sitting in the patio in 27C, sunny and about to go to the pool for its last day before closing for our “winter”.
Reminder: for some of you readers of this blog, I sent you a copy of Robert’s booklet Wild Creatures Hong Kong.
LATER STILL: The turquoise colour is not because of pigment but
…result from small changes in feather structure that alters their light reflective properties. These fundamental modifications cause violet and blue light to be selectively reflected from the feather surface…. Schemochromes
