Weekend bimbles – Gangneung, December 15-16, 2018

Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus

Buff-bellied Pipit Anthus rubescens

Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia with Great Egret Ardea alba

Oriental Stork Ciconia boyciana

Gadwall Anas strepera

Greater Scaup Aythya marila

Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis

Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago

Looking north towards downtown Gangneung, from my side of the river 

Doomfinger cloud

Proudly and constantly covered in tokebis

  It has been a mercifully unsmoggy week, but I didn’t manage to get out much, so I hit it hard on the weekend. On Saturday the 15th, I woke up stupid early and walked the Namdae River, along the coast to Gyeongpo Lake, and then the fields beyond.
  Red-billed Starlings remain fixtures in my neighbourhood, with 14 seen squabbling over persimmons at dawn. The Oriental Stork lingers on the Namdaechon, and four Common Snipe were counted along various reedy streams. Common Gull numbers have swelled to over 40 on the lake, among seven species of gull. Once again I forced myself to stare into the rafts of gulls for a lot longer than I have in the past. If you ain’t tryin’ you dyin’.
  A flock of Far Eastern Skylark that conservatively numbered 90 birds rippled low over the fields near the lake. The day ended with an initially puzzling, flighty pipit that turned out to be a Buff-bellied – always worth ruling out more exotic options, innit.
  Since I hit ‘both’ spots on Saturday, I decided to explore the river and valleys west of town on Sunday. With ominous dark finger-clouds of doom looming above, an odd, living wind lashed the countryside, making for a decidedly unbirdy morning. I walked up a long valley crowded with an unsettling blend of small factories, redneck dog farms, and designer homes, before getting to a reservoir that was almost completely devoid of waterfowl. Hell, it was worth a try, anyway. A Eurasian Spoonbill with a wedge of 42 Great Egrets was the highlight on the river.