Igidae, Busan, December 31, 2012

Varied Tit Sittiparus varius

female Eurasian Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula

Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus

Goldcrest Regulus regulus

Grey-capped Greenfinch Chloris sinica

mysterious 'rufous-gorgeted' Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus

  I had the pleasure of spending the last day of 2012 with Dr. Moores, a remarkably intelligent birder/conservationist, and all-around good bloke. We scoured Igidae at a leisurely pace, and while we didn't run into anything super rare, we had a great day getting to know a lot of the more common birds a bit better. It started to get frigid by day's end, and indeed, a large system of cold weather is pushing through Korea over the next week. We'll see if any birds come down with the system...