Hen Information from Nial Moores, with abroad members Paul Saraceni and Hugh Cotter (between April twenty eighth and Could third morning)
A complete of 202 hen species had been logged throughout this two-week interval, with rarest within the nationwide context a Frequent Swift (on April twenty fourth); the island’s first Verditer Flycatcher – unusually a feminine, and concerning the 399th species recorded on the island since 2013 – and the nationwide second Buff-throated Warbler (each on April twenty ninth); two presumed Western Yellow Wagtails heard in amongst a flock of Jap Yellow Wagtail (on Could 1st); single Black-winged Cuckoo-shrike and a singing Yellow-streaked Warbler – latter overflown by a globally Endangered Swan Goose ! (on Could 2nd); a single Pale Martin (on Could third) in amongst a big arrival of Jap Pink-rumped Swallows, representing the primary adequately documented file because the hen(s) in Could 2013; and a single calling Hume’s and two Tickell’s Leaf Warblers (on Could fifth). Rarest of all would have been – had it been potential to verify – what I understood to be a calling Lengthy-tailed Minivet, heard briefly (8-10 notes or so) slightly distantly on Could seventh.
New (private) island excessive day counts had been made from a number of species, together with of two species apparently doing properly in East Asia: Black-winged Stilt (58 on Could 1st), and Swinhoe’s White-eye (at the very least 180 on Could 1st, with one flock of 170). The latter species was exceptionally quite a few and widespread this spring each on this island and apparently all alongside the west coast, south to Marado off Jeju. These massive numbers is likely to be a part of occasional fluctuations in inhabitants (I keep in mind seeing unexpectedly massive numbers of “Japanese White-eyes” at Beidaihe as way back as 1992, regarded as out of vary of the species), however they don’t seem to be because of elevated observer protection of effort in 2025 in comparison with the remainder of the last decade.
Forty-four Pacific Golden Plover (on Could third) and a bunch of 11 Frequent Rosefinch had been additionally the most important concentrations of those species that I’ve seen on this island.
Due to productive climate methods, together with heavy rain early on Could 3nd, good numbers of Wooden Sandpiper, Lengthy-toed Stint and Pin-tailed Snipe had been once more recorded, along with small numbers of different shorebirds, together with e.g, a single Far Jap Curlew, as much as three Frequent Redshank, a single Temminck’s Stint and small numbers of three different snipe species, together with Latham’s and Swinhoe’s. Fortunately too there have been a number of dates with Little Whimbrel, together with 19 within the “Harrier Fields” on April twenty fifth (flushed by hunters – see under), 5 within the “Greatest Fields” on April twenty seventh and eight in rice-fields subsequent to the reclamation lake on Could third.
Numbers of migrant raptor had been kind of as anticipated, with a line of 169 Gray-faced Buzzard arriving in off the ocean at Dumujin on Could 2nd, 213 Crested Honey Buzzard by on Could 4th, a half-dozen Black Kite, two Jap Marsh Harriers and a single feminine Pied Harrier, and at the very least a few grownup male Amur Falcon.
Though census was not tried, numbers of breeding Black-tailed Gull (in all probability >8,000-9,000 pairs) and Mongolian Gull (>15 pairs) look like both secure or rising; Chinese language Egret seem to have declined considerably (each in numbers seen on the colony and across the island) and at the very least 20 Black-faced Spoonbill had been additionally current again at their colony in early Could, with some apparently commuting to the mainland coast to feed, whereas others have gotten extremely habituated and approachable whereas feeding in rice-fields.
Numbers of small landbird species gave the impression to be about common (e.g., Yellow-browed, Pallas’s Leaf Warblers) or had been quite under common (cuckoo species, Eurasian Wryneck, Brown Shrike, Forest Wagtail and Richard’s Pipit, Radde’s Warbler and Siberian Blue Robin) with some species like Oriental Dollarbird not even recorded – though as much as 200 had been apparently reported on neighboring Daecheong Island throughout the identical interval. If true, this offers an exquisite instance of how some migrants appear to come back by these islands on broad fronts, whereas others appear to come back in a lot narrower traces, responding most probably to fairly particular variations in wind course and visibility. After all, understanding species-specific variations in decision-making in response to geography and climate stays important if real tendencies in populations are to be detected…
As well as, breeding was once more confirmed in early-nesters like Bull-headed Shrike and Gray-cappped Greenfinch, whereas unusually maybe as many as three Chinese language Blackbird territories had been established this spring. A feminine Yellow-bellied Tit was additionally watched gathering nesting materials, watched over by a male who was doing a speedy wing-fluttering show.
Much less positively, development continues in a number of bird-rich areas, together with an enormous “marine eco-tourism centre” very near the seal rocks and within the fields utilized by flocks of Yellow-breasted Buntings in mid-Could final yr; and two vehicles of “hunters” had been again on the island once more for a few days, driving round taking pictures at Frequent Pheasant and geese. Not solely is such searching clearly not efficient (in any other case, why else have they got to come back again yearly?), and mis-timed (in the course of the peak of migration, earlier than any rice has even been planted) however it’s also vastly disturbing and doubtlessly harmful – particularly to any “ecotourists” who would possibly occur to be on the island. Why not use noise-making bird-scarers to guard crops as an alternative, or maybe focus – if actually wanted – both on destroying duck nests or creating schemes by which vacationers will pay to look at birds, offering advantages to farmers who go for biodiversity over monocultures, chemical compounds and “pest” management?
As well as, fairly a number of typical spring migrants had been in clearly decrease numbers than might need been anticipated, even after taking climate situations into consideration. These included particularly Blue-and-white Flycatchers, with solely 4 seen in whole between April twenty seventh and Could seventh, a hen day price of lower than one particular person a day (in contrast with two per day and 4 per day throughout the very same dates in 2018 and 2021 respectively), Olive-backed Pipit (with a hen day price of solely 45 per day this yr in contrast with 143 per day between these dates in 2018 and 112 per day in 2021), Black-faced Bunting (49 per day this yr, in contrast with 154 per day in 2018 and 164 per day in 2021) and Tristram’s Bunting (3 per day this yr between these dates, in contrast with 13 per day in 2018 and 18 per day in 2021). Certainly, numbers of most buntings had been quite decrease than in some (however not all) earlier early-mid- springs, together with two of the extra widespread species: Little and Yellow-browed Bunting. Primarily based on earlier analysis, this survey nevertheless in all probability missed the anticipated peak of later-migrating buntings like Chestnut and Yellow-breasted so counts of those two species can’t be used to get a way of how they is likely to be doing within the short-term. Extra analysis is required…all the time!
And at last for this submit, a number of extra fascinating oddities had been seen in the course of the two-week interval. These included a bohaii Black-tailed Godwit (the second island file, after one final yr) – notably a lot bigger, longer-billed and duller-plumaged than the extra widespread melanuroides – and a leucistic Chinese language Penduline Tit – thankfully seen properly sufficient in order that an ID could possibly be made.
So to wrap-up: as proven by eBird rankings, Baengnyeong Island stays probably the most various and maybe vital migratory hen sizzling spot for conservation within the ROK. It’s tougher to hen, with fewer rarities discovered and photographed every day than e.g., Marado or Eocheong, however the concentrations of commoner migrants will be spectacular, and can very seemingly have worth in future AI-driven meta-analyses of inhabitants tendencies in migratory species. Even now, based mostly on obtainable information and coarse evaluation, many species do look like in decline – some extra seemingly due to native environmental degradation and others due to regional and world threats mixed with these native adjustments, together with habitat degradation, local weather breakdown, searching, alien invasives (together with feral cats) and e.g., collision with wires and buildings.
A lot must be completed if the large worth of Baengnyeong Island to biodiversity and to ecotourism is to be maintained.
As proposed, a few of this summer time will due to this fact be invested in writing a second Birds Korea report aimed toward decision-makers, to spotlight, as soon as extra, the wonderful ecotourism worth of Baengnyeong Island – and to boost consciousness of the potential injury to biodiversity and the hen strike threat to plane posed by the proposed airport. Just like the Gadeokdo airport, this huge development venture thankfully has been delayed once more due to lack of funds, giving slightly extra time for decision-makers to vary course. We have to use that point properly.
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