Chosen fowl information from Nial Moores with Distinguished Professors Joanna Burger and Michael Gochfeld and Iain Campbell
A fast tour of among the ROK’s better-known and lesser-known birding websites, together with a serious shorebird roost on Yeongjong Island; Seosan Lake A (sadly largely devoid of birds on the day of our go to); Sura Wetland inside Saemangeum; Eocheong Island; the Seocheon Getbol; and the Yeoncheon Imjin River Biosphere Reserve.
The excellent spotlight was watching a pair of Critically Endangered Chinese language Crested Tern for 90 minutes, with apparent courtship behaviour by “PA”, banded in the ROK and subsequently photographed in Qingdao, and (presumably his) mate, together with a courtship flight, strutting, begging (with PA squatting low on the bottom, wagging his physique to make a shallow scrape within the sand), prolonged bathing and prolonged preening. Sadly, a lot of the video clips are too lengthy to submit right here.
Additional highlights included shut encounters with globally Weak Chinese language Egrets and enormous flocks of shorebirds at a number of websites, together with hundreds of worldwide Endangered Nice Knot and Far Jap Curlew (and extra distant views of worldwide Endangered Nordmann’s Greenshank at two websites); globally Weak Sharp-tailed Sandpipers at Sura and Little Whimbrel at Simpo; a very good range of migrants, together with a surprising male Siberian Rubythroat and a Gray-backed Thrush coming to meal worms on Eocheong; a number of breeding-plumaged Historical Murrelet and small pods of worldwide Endangered Slender-ridged Finless Porpoise from the boat again to Gunsan (with a possible Minke Whale seen blowing or spouting); and cryptic Lengthy-billed Plovers, ornate Mandarin Geese and glowing Yellow-rumped Flycatchers singing in Yeoncheon.
The week additionally offered sufficient moments for a e-book filled with reflections. On the constructive finish of this huge spectrum it was an actual pleasure to see and meet some youthful birders having fun with migration on Eocheong (together with Mr Yoon Heon, who very kindly shared a few of his photos for this submit) – however on the similar time saddening to know that numbers of birds are actually a lot decrease than once I first visited. It was additionally stunning to see the state of the place. Eocheong was as soon as a extremely fairly island, with small arable plots and fruit bushes, and a stream. Now most open areas are stacked with rubbish, there are excessive numbers of feral cats, and often-exhausted birds had been concentrated largely the place birders offered water or meals (an essential initiative led by Dr Sung Sooyoung to cut back the numbers of birds dying on the island throughout spring) .
Equally, it was fantastic to revisit the Seocheong Getbol – as soon as a deliberate industrial website and now a pure World Heritage property; and likewise to see a number of thousand shorebirds nonetheless on the now-famous Sura Wetland in Saemangeum, and to know there are a lot of folks campaigning for this space’s safety. On the similar time, it was deeply saddening to see how a lot has already been misplaced there – the 300,000 shorebirds at Saemangeum diminished down by 98%; and superior plans for one more airport proper within the coronary heart of what stays.
The ultimate rumination: all of us want a wholesome planet. It has already taken many individuals over many generations to collect the required knowledge to establish options to issues that if enacted would supply advantages to everyone and to each species. For us to win on this lengthy wrestle to beat our greed and apathy – as only one species now liable for the survival of thousands and thousands of others – our ardour, dedication and enthusiasm for the conservation of biodiversity nonetheless must be, now and eternally into the long run, not less than as infectious as it’s evidence-based. Thanks professors for the inspiration!
