Cairo – Jamal Johar

Libyan environmentalists have spotted a unique brown-feathered bird nesting at a park in Sirte city, located some 450 kilometers from the capital, Tripoli. Taking social media and locals by storm, the bird had laid into its nest a clutch of breath-taking Turquoise colored eggs.

“They spotted a nest for a bird known as Tharathar al-Shajar, an aboriginal breed found in Libya and Maghreb countries," said Salih Derayak, director of the General Authority for Environment in Sirte.

Normally, the breed is present in northwestern Libya, in Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and some Central African countries, and the recent finding, according to Deryak, is the first to be located in north-central Libya.

In that area, a number of other breeds that lay blue eggs, such as Starling and Robin, are found, Deryak told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Dreyak, in a Facebook post, revealed that the bird was first seen on feed retrieved from a surveillance camera that had been coincidentally set up on the very same tree it was nesting. He also noted that it lays three to five eggs at a time.

This type of bird is 25 centimeters long and lives in flocks composed of 5 to 10 members.

Deryak also pointed out it was previously linked to the Turdoides genus, but after the publishing a comprehensive study in 2018, Tharathar al-Shajar genus became Argya. Celebrating the unique bird, Libyan authorities in the early seventies issued a post stamp bearing its image.