wgeoff

This bird was on Po Toi today. It was like a large thrush with a black head, bluish white crown stripe, reddish brown body, blue tail with a dark tip.

I think it's a female Purple Cochoa.

Will it make the Hong Kong list?

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 18/08/2010 17:43 ]

wgeoff

Thanks to all.

There are some excellent photos of this bird, much better than mine, by yltam (leung) who was also there to see it and from a slightly different position to me.

As they are not mine, I cannot post them but I hope to get them posted shortly.

Geoff

wgeoff

On seeing some other photos, Paul Leader considers this bird shows sufficient feather damage for it not to be a wild bird.

It was, however, a superb bird and a great thrill to see. I hope to post the other photos later.

It did not call, Katherine.

wgeoff

All three emotions John - surprised, excited and confused.

We realised it wasn't in the Birds of Hong Kong, we thought it was probably a Chinese laughing thrush of some sort. I had never heard the word Cochoa until I got home yesterday.

I have now got Ah Leung's permission to show his photos - to give you some idea of how stunning and beautiful this bird really was.



[ Last edited by wgeoff at 18/08/2010 17:44 ]

wgeoff

Paul based his assessment on the three photos above plus two others given here, also from Ah Leung.



I leave it to him to comment, but I think you can see on my photo and the one above that one primary feather on the right wing appears to be missing and the outer primary on that wing is slightly frayed. Also the outer tail feathers appear frayed on one of the above photos. Small points but significant.

Perhaps a more telling point is that Purple Cochoa is not known to be a migrant species and therefore unlikely to be about 1000 kms from its nearest normal resident area. Also an adult female rather than a juvenile, which would be more likely to stray from its home territory, and a very colourful bird therefore a good target as a cage bird.

I can understand how all these points can add up to doubt about its origin.

[ Last edited by wgeoff at 18/08/2010 17:45 ]