Fowl information from Nial Moores with Calidris Birding led by Nick Upton. All pictures digiscoped by and copyright of Nial Moores through the journey (extra pictures more likely to be added as time permits…). A number of the checklists may be discovered on eBird.
A brief recap of a number of the birding highlights loved in typically very gentle situations following on from a protracted autumn with loads of irruptive taxa – leading to a winter with widespread Upland Buzzard, Purple Crossbill, rosefinches, Chinese language Grosbeaks and Widespread (and now Arctic) Redpolls.
Our group began at Paldang – with three redpolls overhead and an extra 5-minute wait earlier than the wintering Steller’s Sea Eagle swept in to battle with a White-tailed Eagle. Glorious. Then on to the nationwide arboretum, the place we had a fly-over Black Woodpecker as we ate lunch, adopted quickly after by nice views of Eurasian Bullfinches and Pallas’s Rosefinches, latter coming to piles of chicken seed. The seek for Solitary Snipe is now sadly confined to a only a few brief stretches of stream, as many of the stream’s size is more and more disturbed by walkways – now in elements alongside each side.
Subsequent up was Cheorwon, assisted by native knowledgeable colleagues (together with Birds Korea Yeoncheon Director Mr Baek Seung-Kwang and Mr Baek Jong Han), with spectacular views of Purple-crowned and White-naped Cranes; our first Baikal Teal; and a number of other landbird specials – Siberian Accentor, Lengthy-tailed Rosefinch, flocks of Rustic Bunting and white-headed Lengthy-tailed Tits. Within the afternoon we moved on to Yeoncheon, the place highlights included a handful of Hill Pigeon and most particularly 4 gorgeous Scaly-sided Merganser freshly scouted for us by Birds Korea Yeoncheon’s Ms Lee Su-Younger. We then ended the day with a fast go to to the “Spoonbills Mission Web site” / proposed Jeongok Wetland park, the place the day completed with a number of Lengthy-billed Plover, Japanese Wagtail and Meadow Buntings, and with the location overflown by (but) a(nother) White-tailed Eagle.
The third day began with a stroll in hill-forest searching for Hazel Grouse – a serious problem contemplating the crunch of ice-crusted snow that lined the monitor. We heard a few birds vocalizing, and noticed one (I had views of a male on the bottom; others noticed the identical chicken in flight). An extra spotlight was three Japanese Grosbeak sitting excessive up, first picked up by Lee. That is solely our second file in Yeoncheon. We then drove all the way in which to the east coast, ending the day with our first Harlequin Geese and Glaucous Gulls.
Wave heights off the Goseong coast remained above 1m, rendering a ship journey too dangerous to take for a bunch of this measurement. In in any other case lovely climate we as an alternative visited a wintering Chinese language Gray Shrike (first present in early December by Dr Ha Jungmoon , Dr Bernhard Seliger and Ms Baek Minjae), discovering two there; and birded alongside the coast – with excellent spotlight a Yellow-billed Loon in Daejin harbour, with extra “help” within the type of a Glaucous-winged Gull, and distant Spectacled Guillemot and Widespread Murre. As well as, we additionally discovered a Harbour Seal (frequent within the DPRK, uncommon within the ROK and I feel maybe my first ROK mammal tick in a number of years?).
Day 5 included a brief cease in Gangneung earlier than an icy drive as much as the Asian Rosyfinch website – the place 165 had been seen in flight and I heard one other redpoll. The drive from there to Uljin produced a number of Brown Dipper alongside the river – the one ones seen this journey.
The next morning began in Pohang with a small (and dwindling-in-number) group of Russet Sparrow, and our first Mild-vented Bulbuls, White-cheeked Starlings and Blue Rock Thrush of the journey – marking that particular shift within the avifauna discovered largely within the milder southeast (and on Jeju). A drive alongside the river close to Gyeongju was much less profitable than again in late December, however was nonetheless productive – with our first Falcated Geese and flocks of Chinese language Grosbeaks and Buff-bellied Pipits. The day ended a bit disappointingly – ready unsuccessfully for a Relict Gull. Nevertheless, even then, we discovered our first Swan Geese and Saunders’s Gull of the journey, together with a number of Black Kite and Hen Harrier.
January 10th was a day of high quality – with solely brief drives, good climate and a few nice birds. We began on the Junam reservoirs the place the extensive variety of species included 435 White-naped and two Widespread Cranes, gorgeous appears to be like at Taiga Bean Geese and views of a distant adult-type Japanese Imperial Eagle. We additionally loved a number of Dusky and Naumann’s Thrushes and I had flight views of what was very possible an grownup male Purple-throated…The afternoon was then spent again on the Nakdong, with first a flock of Yellow-bellied Tits, adopted by good, sustained appears to be like at an grownup and a younger Steller’s Sea Eagle and extra high quality within the type of a really distant (however nonetheless recognizable) second-winter Relict Gull and two Pied Avocet.
The subsequent day, we had been on the street once more, having fun with first attractiveness at Scaly-sided Merganser and three River Otter, earlier than having fun with the Hooded Crane spectacle at Suncheon Bay (3,200 counted in a single scan…). Different species of be aware there included a Bluethroat (once more first noticed by Lee), 3-4 Upland and a single Tough-legged Buzzard and a really skulking Chestnut-eared Bunting.
January 12th was a really exceptional day – beginning slowly with 4 Daurian Jackdaw, then a small flock of Purple Crossbills, then a whole bunch of Saunders’s Gulls, implausible views of a First-winter Relict Gull and peaking with THE Baikal Teal spectacle. In superbly calm climate, we had been capable of stroll as much as the river financial institution and observe a whole bunch of 1000’s as they rested, at closest solely 50m or so from the river financial institution. This was not the time to attempt to conduct a strong rely of the Baikals – nonetheless, a collection of fast counts (first in 1000’s after which in 100,000s) resulted in a rough estimate of 800,000….This species, highlighted by the Birds Korea brand, has had a extremely checkered historical past – traditionally ample; hunted to near-extinction; increase from a low of 40,000 or much less to a excessive of 1.2 million wintering within the ROK (due to tidal flat reclamation which created enormous protected rice-field areas); adopted by a crash again right down to 300,000 or so; adopted now by what seems to be one other large explosion in quantity. Along with this Korean flock and birds at a number of websites, this winter additionally noticed record-breaking numbers for current a long time in Japan – with a flock of as much as 150,000 in Honshu and of 250,000 (?) reported in Kyushu. How about in China this winter?
Baikal Teal 가창오리 on the Geum River, January twelfth, with a part of the flock forming a wonderful “sky whale” as they determined which approach to head for the night time…
Subsequent up, after some restricted success in woodland in Gunsan (Japanese Bush Warbler being finest), was Seosan – the place we loved good views of as much as 15 Oriental Stork – the final of our most important targets – and a bonus Lengthy-eared Owl (due to Birds Koreans Prof. Todd Hull and Ms Sharon Surrette for the up-to-date gen on each), together with extra Hooded Crane and our first and solely Chinese language Penduline Tits.
The final day, the 14th, was our first with rain. An hour or so in Namhasenseong produced glorious views of two White-backed Woodpecker, extra Chinese language Grosbeak flocks and a distant-calling Hazel Grouse. En route again to Incheon we stopped off in a bird-rich park (website of Korea’s first adequately-documented Fieldfare acouple of years again) within the hope of recently-seen Japanese Waxwings. Nevertheless, we had been unsuccessful – though we loved extra nice views of Eurasian Treecreepers, a thrush which appeared good for a First-winter Purple-throated and I heard a calling Chinese language Nuthatch (my 167th or so species of 2024).
Thanks once more to Nick Upton, Lee and the group for coming to Korea and to all of the birders and chicken conservationists who supported our go to. The birding right here actually is excellent – each in winter and at different seasons! As well as, a number of of the species which I used to consider as tough to search out once I co-led the very first birding tour again in 2001, at the moment are – despite a lot habitat loss – moderately simpler to see, due to a mix of conservation measures at just a few websites, the rising variety of birders keen to share data, and the greatly-improved infrastructure. An apparent extra plus is that for those who include Calidris or via / with Birds Korea, you might be additionally instantly supporting the conservation of birds and their habitats…
