Weekend GNG birds

All lotus ponds, all the time...

A cool local birder I met

Oh look, it's an ugly hotel

Living near an airfield = free airshow every morning

Daurian Jackdaw Corvus dauuricus

Amur Falcon Falco amurensis

Amur Falcon Falco amurensis

Grey-capped Greenfinch Chloris sinica

Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago

Golden Orb Weaver/Joro Spider that lives outside my window

Bees are no match for my Golden Orb Weaver/Joro Spider Nephila clavata

Windy in them thar hills

  Know what I like? Birds. The weather is still crisp and clear here, it’s lovely. Saturday’s walk saw me head along the Namdae River in the pre-dawn murk. I met a kindly Korean birder near the coast, and we drove to Gyeongpo Lake together. He was a cool dude, really into the birding side of things, and not just focused on the photography game. I picked up some cracking intel from him, and hopefully will be birding with him again sometime soon.
  It was fairly quiet on the bird front though, with highlights being my Gangneung first Opsrey, Coot, Yellow-throated Bunting, and two flyover Far Eastern Skylarks. Later that afternoon, eleven Red-billed Starlings were seen near my house, and I saw my first GNG Long-tailed Tits from my bedroom window – all dark-headed, no caudatus yet. What else? I need to learn my pipit calls a lot better.
  Sunday was spent wandering through fields east of town, in search of signs of migration, and/or the birds of winter. I perhaps didn’t choose the most cautious route, and ended up too close to a military airfield…not always the best thing to do as a foreigner bristling with optics, ha ha. I suspect I was being surveiled by two dudes in an SUV that came from the direction of the airfield, so I did my best “leafing through my field guide and having a eureka moment” pantomime, and toddled off unmolested. I’ll definitely be paying better attention to the map next time.
  Sunday’s notable birds included a single Amur Falcon and Daurian Jackdaw, and a field jammed with almost 30 snipes – mostly Common, with a few Pin-tailed (thanks again to Tim for thoughts on ID). I also found the spot where Watercocks are annually regular, but of course it’s too late for them this year. I spent a lot of time unsuccessfully searching for them in Suncheon. Watercocks! Uh oh, here comes the jet-lag again, systems shutting down in 3…2…1.