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| Suncheon Bay at dawn |
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| Bluethroat Luscinia svecica |
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| Siberian Rubythroat Calliope Calliope |
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| Ochre-rumped Bunting (Japanese Reed Bunting) Emberiza yessoensis |
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| Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus |
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| Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis daurica |
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| White's Thrush (Scaly Thrush) Zoothera aurea |
A peaceful bit of
coastal reedbeds near the Suncheon Bay park becomes a bit less peaceful every week,
with construction creeping in from two sides, and a noticeable increase in noisy
bike-tour groups in the short time I have been here. In spite of this, the area has been fairly
productive for birds lately, with winter birds clearing out, and migrants and
summer visitors moving through.
Mid-April saw the
first Stejneger’s Stonechats (8) and Cattle Egrets in the area, and a pair of
Garganey were spotted on the mudflats. On April 28th, a lone Little Tern was seen successfully dive-bombing
for fish, Stonechat numbers were down to three, and at least four noisy
Oriental Reed Warblers were heard singing their discordant tune from the reeds.
In the early morning
of April 30th, on a small farm track next to a reedy ditch and a
flooded field, I flushed a small dark snipe. It flushed almost silently (I thought I heard a light gasping sound, but
it may have been the wings hitting grass) only when I almost stepped on it, and
flew relatively straight and slowly, to a spot perhaps 30 feet away. I got a quick binocular look at it, and made
out a small dark pointy tail, and lighter braces on the back. I could not re-locate the bird in the short
stubble, in spite of being quite close to where it landed. Later in the day I re-sighted the Eurasian
Bittern, as it did a lazy circuit around its reedy pond.
In the vain hope of
re-finding the mystery snipe, I returned to the spot before dawn the following
day, with predictable results. The day
was not a loss by any means, as there were definite signs of movement in the
area. Small groups of Ashy Minivets were
heard overhead several times heading inland, and three Striated Herons were
found on a wooded hill. Six Pacific
Golden Plover paced a stubbly field, with a probable Little Whimbrel spotted nearby. A Siberian Rubythroat was briefly encountered
on a small trail.
The highlight came in
a small scrubby wetland – my first and long-awaited Bluethroat, a very special
experience. A faintly-colored male was
first spotted singing from atop a small tree. It was convincingly plagiarizing snippets of Brown-eared Bulbul, White
Wagtail, and Oriental Reed Warbler songs, among others! After shifting singing perches several times,
it was chased off by a brighter-toned male, which took up the chaotic crooning. A third, even more colorful male was soon seen
singing from a nearby reed. Within an
hour after the first sighting, they seemed to clear out, and were not seen
again later in the day, or week.
On May 4th
a dozen Chinese Penduline Tits still lingered in the reeds, and several groups
of 10-20 Brown-eared Bulbuls were seen flying around the coast, and they had
the feel of ‘movement’ to them. The
highlight of the morning came in the form of an Ochre-rumped Bunting which was
quite confiding at first, offering good views of the characteristic peachy wash
on the rump and back.
For the past few weeks Eurasian Curlew, Common Greenshank, and Whimbrels have been seen on the flats, in numbers ranging between 40-100, depending on the tides, along with twenty to thirty Godwits, mostly Black-tailed with a few Bar-tailed mixed in earlier in April. On May 4th, three Mongolian Plovers, six Terek Sandpipers, and a dozen Grey Plovers were seen on the mudflats.
Holiday travel logistics
conspired to keep me away from Yellow Sea islands over the long Birdathon
weekend, so I planned on heading back to Geomundo, south of Yeosu. The boats were cancelled due to heavy fog, so
I headed to Dolsan-do, a charming and sleepy island connected to southern Yeosu
by bridge. In a town on the southwest
side, ten Red-rumped Swallows were very picky where they nested, only using the
eaves of one seaside minbak. Next to a
mountain road, three tiny juvenile Long-tailed Tits perched motionless on a low
twig, with no adult bird in site. Perhaps newly fledged? Ashy
Minivets could be heard flying just over the treetops, and the songs and calls of
Pale Thrush, Oriental Cuckoo, Grey-capped Greenfinch and Asian Stubtail echoed
through the mountain forest. A Grey Nightjar
called from the same hills after sundown.
On the hills and
mountains around Suncheon, Ashy Minivets were heard flying across valleys on
several occasions during April. On April 27th on Jukdobong Hill,
several confiding White’s Thrushes gave some great views as they hopped along
trails, and a pair of Common Kingfishers appeared to be nesting in a dense
thicket of bamboo. Two Asian Stubtails
were heard on a nearby mountain.
On a mountain hike
north of town on May 5th, the woods were echoing with the haunting songs
of several Oriental and Indian Cuckoos, as well as two Brown-headed Thrush - do
they normally sing on migration? A
Yellow-browed Warbler was also heard, and an Oriental Dollarbird was seen
perched next to a road.
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