Mid-January odds n sods – Gangneung, January 16-18, 2019

Eurasian Bittern Botaurus stellaris

Grey-headed Woodpecker Picus canus

Slaty-backed Gull Larus schistisagus (and friends)

Eurasian Teal Anas crecca

Long-billed Plover Charadrius placidus

Blue Rock Thrush Monticola solitarius

Large-billed Crow Corvus macrorhynchos

Wren house, my house

  On the 16th, a Eurasian Bittern was spotted on a pitifully narrow sliver of suitable habitat along the river. On the coast, a Long-billed Plover foraged by a canal. I tried to scrunch up my eyes to make it turn into a Common Ringed Plover, but it wasn’t happening.

  The following day, I was delighted to discover that a feisty Eurasian Wren had made its home in a pile of scrub that rests up against the outside wall of my ‘compound.’ Guess it’s my roommate. A Grey-headed Woodpecker has been screaming and hollering in my yard lately as well.
  Relatively quiet around the lake on the 18th. Three plump Siberian Accentors were spotted in a low pine, and then a Dusky Thrush came through. I also got quick looks at a thrush with dark, plain grey-looking upperparts, but could not relocate the bird. It’s entirely possible that I want to see a ‘throated’ thrush so badly that I have started to bird-lucinate.