# @theoregonian on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/C6Uz2Cth3q_
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/16929158-theoregonian-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/cdcba57ba0.jpg
- **Posted:** 2024-04-29T01:00:10.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The Oregonian (@theoregonian) — https://gondola.cc/theoregonian

## Caption

Michael Sanchez is no birder. But the 41-year-old Vancouver man has been getting into photography. So, on a trip to the coast, he woke up before dawn last Sunday and carried his new Sony camera to Hug Point, where he hoped to snap a shot of the picturesque waterfall just after daybreak.

“I shot my pictures, then turned behind me, and I see this little bird,” said Sanchez, the middle school band director at Camas’ Skyridge Middle School. “It was still a little bit before sunrise, still a little dark, so to my eyes, it looked like a tiny bird that was black. I only realized once I got home and was processing my photos that it had this really pretty blue and chestnut color.”

After posting his photos to Facebook, Sanchez learned that his pretty bird was none other than a blue rock thrush, a native of Europe and Asia that is beyond rare in North America. In fact, bird experts later told Sanchez they believe it’s among the first times a wild blue rock thrush has been spotted in North American history, at least with this much documentation.

Read more at the link in our bio. 

📸: Photo by and courtesy of Michael Sanchez

#bluerockthrush #birding #oregon #oregoncoast #theoregonian #bird #birdwatching #rarebird

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## Tags

oregon, oregoncoast, birding, bluerockthrush, rarebird, bird, theoregonian, birdwatching

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