Song thrush? Rogaland, Norway 1st December 2023 (2 Viewers)

[Redmist]

Apologies for the poor pictures, but hopefully good enough that someone can confirm. I saw this bird yesterday (1st Dec) on open rocks by the sea close to Stavanger, Norway. Initially I assumed rock pipit but it didn't behave like typical rock pipits, it was very wary and stayed at a distance before flying off and I can't make the photos any kind of rock pipit either. So song thrush is my next guess, but in an odd habitat in the open by the ocean and I tend to only see and hear them in the summer months. Or is this not unusual in winter, in cold conditions as we have had for the past week? Thanks for your help

 

[Bewick]

Yes

 

[PYRTLE]

At first glance looked like a Veery, photo artefact in weak light. Also size of a Rock pipit.

 

[Bewick]

At first glance looked like a Veery, photo artefact in weak light. Also size of a Rock pipit.

Yes did appear slightly veery like at first, though I think over exposure is what is causing that effect and the birds positioning is affecting the birds structural appearance. In the two last pics you can see more detail, possibly spotting on the flanks and definite markings on the head and neck area. Also the eye ring that's more significant post-ocular, which I notice regularly on song thrushes.

 

[Redmist]

Thanks for confirmation Bewick and PYRTLE. You both noticed on the one thing that was nagging at me and making me hesitant to call it song thrush, however unlikely the alternative would be

 

[01101001]

(You can always try getting better photos, though, to go the extra mile.)

EDIT: One way could be seeing if, e.g., the wing formula fits:

https://ringersdigiguide.ottenby.se/species/turdus-philomelos/autumn/

Taking into account that the quality is somewhat poor due to the distance, I can't count 18 flight feathers in the wing--more around 12-13 in total, which hovers around 2/3 the number required. Still, some may be hidden or moulted.

https://ringersdigiguide.ottenby.se/species/turdus-philomelos/

EDIT 2: From Blasco Zumeta's guide:

Complete postbreeding moult, usually finished in early October. Partial postjuvenile moult involving body feathers, lesser and median wing coverts and inner greater coverts; some birds extend their moult to all greater coverts and some tertials; usually finished in October.

Why such a short tail in December, then?

Could it involve delayed moult timing as with the Red-headed Bunting?

EDIT 3: Is it one of the birds reported here (or maybe it was reported on the Norwegian system if there is one)? If so, maybe there's a chance it will stay.

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ebird.org

 

[Butty]

A thrush, but I couldn't go further. There may be features to make it exclusively a song thrush, but I don't know what they are. There may be features that make it definitely not a Catharus thrush, but I don't know what they are either (wing structure, head pattern?). Certainly, though, one should ignore the upperparts colour as being possibly influenced by artefact and color balance and definitely by the warm low incident light.

 

[Redmist]

Thanks Butty and 01101001 for your thoughts. There has been just one song thrush reported from this county in the last week, from another location. I was also surprised to see one on open coast, so good to check I wasn’t overlooking something else.