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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.

According to Oregon Bird Records Committee chairman Tim Janzen, a blue rock thrush was previously spotted in British Columbia in 1997, but experts there were not sure whether it was a true vagrant — aka a bird that traveled to the area on its own — or a caged bird that was released or escaped.

According to Janzen, a blue rock thrush was also recently spotted on the Farallon Islands off California.

And on April 26, a person retroactively reported spotting a blue rock thrush in Seaside in January.