Blue Rock-Thrush

The blue rock thrush is a chat, an Old World flycatcher formerly placed with the thrushes. It is a starling-sized bird, 21–23 cm long with a long slim bill. It breeds in southern Europe, north-west Africa, and from Central Asia to northern China and Malaysia, and is the national bird of Malta. Five subspecies are recognised, and a proposal to split the species in two followed papers published in 2004 and 2007 (Wikipedia, general species account).