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| Black-winged Cuckooshrike Lalage melaschistos |
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| Black-winged Cuckooshrike Lalage melaschistos |
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| Yellow-rumped Flycatcher Ficedula zanthopygia |
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| Olive-backed Pipit Anthus hodgsoni |
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| Welcome to Disney World |
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| The Moorhen tree |
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| Looking north at dawn |
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| A haenyo diver |
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| Later, Gapa |
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| Gotta love that first ferry off |
May 11
The 11th was pretty quiet on Gapa, but ended with a kaboom. On the north side, as I was headed into an overgrown yard by an abandoned house, a shrike-sized bird flushed over the house. I got a glimpse of a medium grey back, with darker wings, and a longish dark tail. I think I know what this is, and it would be a long-awaited lifer. Remember to breathe, and move slowly. I crept around to the other side of the house, and peeked the corner. The bird flushed from low to high, and I got a bino view. Black-winged Cuckooshrike! I fired off a dozen shaky-handed pics through the branches in the foreground, and got a couple of passable record shots.
As with the Baikal Bush Warbler, the date and location for this sighting seem earlier, and much further south than most other records I’ve been able to find for South Korea. The records I’ve seen are all from May 21 or later, and are from Baengneyong and Socheong Islands. I wonder if both of these odd Gapa sightings have something to do with last week’s massive rain system...or were they perhaps more recent arrivals?
Odd to see at dusk was a Moorhen skulking in a potted tree in someone’s yard – a testament to the lack of leafy habitat on the island. What else? Two Taiga Flycatchers were still on the island, but it was getting quieter all day.
May 12
On the 12th, it was very unbirdy on a final go-around of the island at dawn. The Black-winged Cuckooshrike was refound at about 6am. It was showing much better – perched prominently near the school, in the island’s centre. It really presents as a ‘plain’ bird at a distance (and minivet-like).
In spite of some solid spring variety and excellent surprises, it was a relief to leave Gapa-do. The place is largely unbirdable for much of the day due to it being jammed nuts-to-butts with tourists. Between 9am and 4pm, they spread around and clog every little artery on the island, like an omnipotent neon blob. You may as well try to go birding at Disney World.
And the place just felt birded out for the moment. There may be some interesting stuff blowing in with the winds this weekend, but all in all, ça vaut pas la peine. But I reckon my Gapa gambit paid off. I wanted to avoid being on tiny Mara Island for a few days with the local crew of Korean birders. I wanted my own island, ha ha, and I got it for better or worse.
Nothing from the boat back.
Chilling in Seogwipo at the moment. Headed north in a few days, to continue the island-hopping.
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