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| Red Turtle Dove Streptopelia tranquebarica |
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| Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax |
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| Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis daurica |
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| Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis daurica (Spot the Barn Swallow) |
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| Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis daurica |
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| White-shouldered Starling Sturnia sinensis |
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| Red-billed (Silky) Starling Spodiopsar sericeus |
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| Eastern Yellow Wagtail Motacilla tschutschensis macronyx |
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| Blyth’s Pipit Anthus godlewskii |
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| Richard’s Pipit Anthus richardi |
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| Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala |
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| Chinese Grosbeak Eophona migratoria |
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| Chinese Grosbeak Eophona migratoria |
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Light-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis |
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| Grey-faced Buzzard Butastur indicus |
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| Pacific Swift Apus pacificus |
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| 2-gu |
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| The road out of 2-gu that turns knees to bonedust |
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| Road to the antenna |
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| Shady-ass stairs in 2-gu |
May 23
A small passerine that perched on a wire above town had me well confused. My first instinct was Russet Sparrow, based on size and jizz, but the lighting was brutally bad – backlit and murky. I got some record shots before it took off, circled the harbour twice, then headed north over the ridge. I had to boost the brightness and saturation later to try to make out useable details on the bird, and that was my fatal mistake. Fiddling with the colour settings like that left me with an impossible bird. In the end, with a little help from my friends, I circled back around and settled on Russet Sparrow. Moral of the story? I dunno, don’t monkey with colour settings then try to ID a bird from a grainy pic? Don’t bird in the fog? Get more sleep?
In that same fog, at least 250 Red-rumped Swallows swarmed around the dump and perched en masse, before taking to the air again, creating a massive Swallow-nado above town, that rose higher and higher, before dispersing.
Mixed in with this flock were about a dozen Asian House Martin, as well as a Sand Martin that looked suspiciously pale in flight. I got a few images, but they were crap due to the same hazy overcast, so I’ll have to leave that one alone for now.
Also:
-Red Turtle Doves and Black Drongo continue in the dump.
-A few Oriental Honey and Grey-faced Buzzards drifting over the island.
-Lone Eurasian Magpie in the main town.
-A Brown-eared Bulbul fooled me into thinking it was an Ashy Drongo.
-Several Middendorf’s and Styan’s Grasshopper Warblers heard on the road to the antenna. Further up that road, nothing much, as the wind was very strong.
-50 species on the day.
May 23
I began the long walk to 2-gu as the sun rose. It’s 30 minutes of steep hill, then an hour of less steep hills, then another 30 minutes of steep hills. And then you do it all again on the way back. For Montrealers, it’s like walking from Vendome Metro up to the Westmount Summit and back…twice. But hey, life is short – turn your knees into bonedust if it means birding Gageo 2-gu on a fine spring morning, I say.
Not a huge turnover today, and the winds are out of the north. Will put up with a couple of days of doldrums, as the winds should be blowing out of the south again by Thursday.
More Middendorf’s and Styan’s Grasshopper Warblers singing from many stands of bamboo from the power plant all the way into 2-gu.
On the road to 2-gu, I flushed a bird that looked like a small, plain thrush. The back and rump showed warm brown tones as it flew, and I caught a glimpse of a strong supercilium and dark flanks. Then a couple of odd ‘up and down chirpy calls’ followed by a guttural tisking was heard from the scrub where the bird flushed. I later listened to calls online, and Gray’s Grasshopper Warbler matches up well with what I heard, as well as saw. Hopefully I can get a better look before I leave.
-The Black Drongo and Red Turtle Doves appear to have moved on.
-A White-shouldered Starling on the road to 2-gu.
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