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Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago
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Buff-bellied
Pipit Anthus rubescens
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Olive-backed Pipit Anthus hodgsoni
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Red-flanked Bluetail Tarsiger cyanurus
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Little Bunting Emberiza pusilla
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Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus
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Eurasian Magpie Pica pica
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Large-billed Crow Corvus macrorhynchos
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Bull-headed Shrike Lanius bucephalus
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Far Eastern Skylark Alauda japonica
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A heavy snowfall overnight painted a bright new landscape
around my local patch, and there was plenty of interesting bird activity, with
close to 60 species seen. I saw a few
personal Geoje firsts, some unexpected birds, and a lot of the birds seemed to
be acting edgy and strange because of the snow. ‘Hungrier’ all of a sudden, maybe. I was stunned to see a Bull-headed Shrike locked in a life-or-death
dogfight with a bite-sized Eurasian Wren, and they flew around me at close range
before vanishing behind a group of trees.
Also acting uncharacteristically aggressive was a reddish Eastern Buzzard that was actively cruising the fields at low level, perhaps taking advantage of how visible small birds were against the snow.
Also acting uncharacteristically aggressive was a reddish Eastern Buzzard that was actively cruising the fields at low level, perhaps taking advantage of how visible small birds were against the snow.
Most of the action
was going on in a scrubby/reedy corner of a large set of fields. Two Little Buntings (a personal Geoje first)
were confiding in a ditch, while a Far Eastern Cisticola and Pallas’s Reed Bunting
were a lot less open, skulking in the reeds. A group of 25 Skylarks, not usually seen on this side of the island,
shimmered nervously through the fields as a Northen Goshawk, Eastern Buzzard,
and Eurasian Kestrel took turns making low passes over the field. Also in the fields, a flock of close to 30
Chinese Penduline Tits, dozens of Buff-bellied and Olive-backed Pipits, and
perhaps six Common Snipe.
On the mountain
trails, several Hawfinch (also a personal Geoje first), a confiding male
Red-flanked Bluetail and later at least a half-dozen females. I also ran into the resident small flock of
Eurasian Bullfinch, made up of five females, a male rosacea, and a male
‘griseiventris-type’, which I photographed earlier in the week.
The nearby canals
and especially the harbour were teeming with winter bird activity. Common and Black-headed Gulls outnumbered
Black-tailed Gulls where the canal meets the harbour, and at least a hundred
Great Crested Grebe formed loose rafts further out. Also on the harbour, about 60 Common Pochard,
and a handful of Greater Scaup, Tufted Duck, and Common Goldeneye.
