Thistle shins

Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus confusus

Chinese Grosbeak Eophona migratoria

young Eurasian Magpie Pica pica

Yellow-browed Bunting Emberiza chrysophrys

Narcissus Flycatcher Ficedula narcissina

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher Ficedula zanthopygia

Grey-tailed Tattler Tringa brevipes

Mole Cricket

Scary number of cats on the island

OK then

Good bunting spot, with my minbak on the horizon

Glad I brought aloe

May 9, 2023, Gapa Island

  Up early and out to Gapa Island (Gapa-do). Nothing from the ferry trip out. Not a single bird. On Gapa proper, not terribly birdy, with little new compared to ‘mainland’ Jeju, and only 29 species logged all day. The winds were blowing out of the north, which doesn’t help at all. Ah well, that’s spring birding. You have to take the doldrums along with the big days.

  Birding on Gapa has its challenges – the island is plagued with the triple scourges of blazing sun, clots of noisy day-tripping tourists, and smog. That’s been tiring me right out, so I try to get in a cheeky siesta ‘round midday.

  As far as suitable habitat to shelter migrants, there isn’t that much on the island. It’s got about the same amount of tree and bush coverage as nearby Mara Island, but fragmented and scattered over a much larger area. The birds are here, but you really have to scrape and scour to find them. Migrating birds seem to bunch up in the few brushy bits at the northern and southern tips of the island, as may be expected.

Notable:

-Two Brown Shrikes hunting Mole Crickets – confusus, if I’m not mistshriken.

-Eurasian Magpie and (Eurasian) Tree Sparrow are by far the most plentiful species on the island.

-Several Styan’s Grasshopper Warblers were heard and glimpsed literally right outside the window of my minbak (on the southwest corner of the island), so that’s cool.

-Bunting and flycatcher variety picking up, but numbers are thin.

-A flock of 35 Chinese Grosbeaks shimmering restlessly over the main village.

-A flyover pair of Chestnut-cheeked Starlings.

-Several Grey-tailed Tattlers around the coastal rocks.

-Red-rumped Swallows mixed in the Barn Swallows.

-I’m still super rusty on my Korean bird calls.

-I got thistle shins.