Daejeon, June 8-9, 2023

Varied Tit Sittiparus varius

Siberian Chipmunk Eutamias sibiricus

Korean Water Deer Hydropotes inermis

Japanese Keelback Amphiesma vibakari

Asiatic Toad Bufo gargarizans

Asiatic Toad Bufo gargarizans

Realm of the Ruddy Kings

Don’t miss the hourly granny bus back into town!

The hourly granny bus back to town

River 'improvement' in Daejeon

Pumpkin soda – much worse than it sounds

The KTX - Korea's bullet train

Daejeon, June 8, 2023
  The relatively quick success with the Watercock on the 7th allowed me to hop on the KTX (Korea’s bullet train) down to Daejeon, in search of, you guessed it, Ruddy Kingfishers. Why not, eh? There’s a spot just outside of town that’s been reliable for Ruddys in years past.

  As I got out of the cab at 5:30am on the 8th, I heard a piercing, descending trill – a Ruddy Kingfisher singing. A Fairy Pitta started up at the same moment, from much closer in. The Pitta’s song made it difficult to determine where the Ruddy was singing from, and within a minute or so, both stopped vocalizing. And that was the last I heard from either species, until I left at noon – when the sun was hot, and the trails were full of noisy hikers.

  It seems likely that the breeding/territorial period, where Ruddy Kingfishers are most likely to be spotted and/or heard, is over for the Daejeon birds. Maybe I missed it by a day or two. So I was too early for Ruddys at most spots, and too late here. I wouldn’t have it any other way! Gotta leave some on the table for next time, innit.

Daejeon, June 9, 2023
  Another 5:30am start, and a different strategy. Instead of circling the area where vocal Ruddys were found in the past (presumably during the courtship/territory phase of the breeding cycle), I went to the area, deeper in the woods, where it seems likely that they nest. I sat on a bench there for several hours and watched and listened. And didn’t see or hear a thing, Ruddy Kingfisher-wise.

  Maybe the one I heard yesterday morning was headed somewhere else. There are a lot of small river valleys and mountains in the area, and birds have wings. I also didn’t run into a single local photographer over the two days in Daejeon, which seemed odd. At the Paju spot, the trails were nuts-to-butts with photogs, even though there was only a distant call or two reported there on any given day. Maybe photogs playbacked the Daejeon spot to death and scared off the Ruddys. Maybe they decided to breed in a nearby valley for some other reason. Or maybe they were there in those very same woods I staked out, and I just missed them. It’s also possible that I made some forest spirits cross with me for some reason, and they are withholding the gleaming ruby jewel from me, until I can complete some side quest. Or maybe I’m just unlucky, and sleep deprived.

  My birding plans for the weekend have kind of turned to ashes in my hands, but I’m cool with it. I could use a good sleep in. I had a couple of crazy hail-Mary plan Ds in mind to take the subway for two hours to get to some trails, crowded with weekend hikers, where Ruddys may have been heard ten years ago. Screw that. I’ll just come back after some more trips around the sun, and I will see a Ruddy Kingfisher (conclusively), and all will be right with the universe.

  There were two distinct phases to my trip, and a bit too much improvisation at the tail end of the first (island-hopping) kind of muddled my schedule for the second (mainland search for rare breeders). Because of the 4-5 days of rain that was forecast for Gageo, I bailed, and possibly got to Gwangju too early for Ruddys, if they’re even still there. Then I ended up in the Jinju area a week early (at least) for the possibility of Pheasant-tailed Jacanas. I then faffed around in Gapyeong and Paju for too long, and probably got to Daejeon a day or two late for Ruddys. Or something. Who knows. No regrets though, it was a grand adventure the whole way through, and it’s been awesome to reconnect with old friends at each step of this silly trip through a crazy little place that somehow makes sense to me. I’ll be back.

  Cheers to all the fellow bird-nerds that helped me greatly with their information, encouragement, and company.

Butterflies n critters of Jinju

Naganoella timandra

Chiasmia defixaria

Striated Ringlet Ypthima multistriata

Pallas's Fritillary Argyronome laodice

Pallas’s Sailer Neptis sappho 

Red Ring Skirt Hestina assimilis 

Freyer's Purple Emperor Apatura metis

Cyclosa Trashline Orb Weaver sp.

Dark-spotted Frog Pelophylax nigromaculatus

  Currently in Seoul, as my trip winds down. Here are a few random non-bird critters that I encountered in the Jinju area, May 30-31. I'll get to properly IDing them all soon.

Scattering: A Photobook on Shamanism and Crows in South Korea

(Image from the Kickstarter page)

(Image from the Kickstarter page)

(Image from the Kickstarter page)

(Image from the Kickstarter page)

  Back in early May, I attended a talk given by my buddy Joey Rositano in Jeju City. He detailed his fascinating study on the unique relationship between crows and shamanistic rituals in a small town on Jeju Island. He needs some help funding a photobook on the project, so get involved - you can get some sweet stuff in the deal!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/114038402/scatteringa-photobook-about-people-and-crows-in-south-korea?ref=checkout_rewards_page

WATERCOCK! WATERCOCK!

Watercock Gallicrex cinerea

Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor

Grey-backed Thrush Turdus hortulorum

Dragon Swallowtail Sericinus montela koreanus

Part of the Samneung Tomb park

Gongneung Reservoir, noisy with major
infrastructure work all the way around

Everything gets prickly when you're within sight of North Korea

The ever-shrinking kingdom of the Watercocks

Paju, June 6, 2023

   On the 6th, I undertook two circuits of the Samneung Tomb compound in Paju, and had a long hike around the (adjacent yet difficult to get to) Gongneung Reservoir, all in search of Ruddy Kingfishers. No luck, of course. Birdcurse! Plenty of Grey-backed Thrush around, as well as little black insects that like to hover an inch in front of eyeballs. A Fairy Pitta was heard singing once. It seemed like every valley around the area was stacked with endless, dirty little factories.

Paju, June 7, 2023

  Another couple of go-arounds at the Samneung Tombs, and still no sign of a Ruddy Kingfisher. The whole set-up there felt wrong to see the shy species: the 9am entry time, the fact that the hills between the tombs and the reservoir were mostly fenced-off, the noisy construction going on at the reservoir, and the seemingly constant landscaping at the tombs. I'm betting that the Ruddys spend most of their time in the woods around the reservoir, only occasionally being heard by folks over the hill at the tombs. Good for them, I say. All of that helped me solidify my decision to bail after two days.

  So I jumped into a cab and headed west until I got to the river, in search of Watercocks. A really kind woman in the only restaurant for miles let me dump my backpack there while I birded. Thanks, kind woman!

  I skirted some hills and walked towards a set of rice fields just south of where the Gongneuncheon Stream empties into the confluence of the Han and Imjin Rivers. With North Korea visible on the near horizon, there was a lot of South Korean military build-up around the rice fields. At one point, I bumbled around a bend on a quiet, leafy trail, and startled a couple of young soldiers in a guard post. My binos, long-lensed camouflaged camera, and green boonie hat didn’t do much to help put them at ease, I reckon. One stared at me open-mouthed, while the other one got twitchy. I gave them a goofy smile and walked away, quickly. Guess it worked.

  Watercocks resemble Moorhens on steroids. They are now very scarce in South Korea, like so many bird species that adapted to the ‘old fashioned’ rhythms and habitat associated with agriculture. They like quiet rice fields with extensive wild and brushy edges – a situation that is increasingly hard to find in modern South Korea. I'm pretty sure I glimpsed the species twice when I lived in Suncheon, but a glimpse is not good enough to tick, in my book.

  After an hour’s meander through the rice fields, I heard a ghostly, guttural gulping, very faintly. Or did I? I headed towards the sound, and it got louder. I spent 15 minutes making my way closer to the bizarre song of a Watercock, but I didn’t see it, in spite of constant binocular scans of the field edges. And then I did. It was a little blue-black blob, two fields over, with a flash of red and yellow at the pointy end.

  “WATERCOCK! WATERCOCK!” I whisper-screamed to no one. It looked just like the illustration in the field guide I’d stared at longingly for years…only a little smaller. I skulked over towards the bird, and got some fairly distant record shots, but I’m proud of how distant and grainy my pics are. I gave the bird its space, then backed off, but not before the SUV photog crowd noticed me and swooped into action.

  And now a cranky note on some of the photogs I encountered at both spots in Paju. I wish that someone would include a little booklet with every new 600mm lens about the ethics of using playback on breeding birds (rare or otherwise). It would be short and simple, and say something along the lines of “Hi! Congratulations on your purchase of this fine Japanese lens. Please don’t incessantly harass breeding birds by blaring playback in the name of getting a cool picture with it. Just don’t. Thanks. The end.”

  Anyway, many thanks to Mike W for coming with me on the first day at the tombs, and to Tim, Leslie, and Subho, for showing me dots on maps, and for rooting for me to find my long-awaited lifers. Watercock!

Seoul, June 5, 2023

Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus

Eurasian Kestrel Falco tinnunculus

Phasmid stick-bug sp.

  Spent a couple of non-birding days in Seoul with an old buddy. Getting muggy out there.

Gapyeong, June 1-2 2023

Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major

Black-naped Oriole Oriolus chinensis

Marsh Tit Poecile palustris

Eurasian Nuthatch Sitta europaea

Striated Heron Butorides striata

Little Egret Egretta garzetta

A colony of White-cheeked Starling Spodiopsar cineraceus

Asian Swallowtail Papilio Xuthus 

Purple Emperor Apatura iris

Siberian Chipmunk Eutamias sibiricus

Old fighting positions in the hills above town

All aboard the boat to Crazytown!

A photography club heads off in search of Tawny Owls
on Nami Island

  The first of June was a long travel day that saw me end up in Gapyeong, east of Seoul. At dusk, I took a walk into the the hills where perhaps Ruddy Kingfishers were heard several short years ago. It was not a productive walk, bird-wise. A new hotel and restaurant in the valley below were pumping out loud music into the once quiet hills. Later I found several weathered military dugouts atop a ridge above town – perhaps dug by Canadian troops during the Battle of Gapyeong in 1951…or maybe they were more recent excavations?

  On June 2, I took the short ferry trip to the bizarre tourist trap that is Nami Island. The Ruddy Kingfishers that used to nest on the island have been effectively extirpated by naughty photographers, and the remaining Black Woodpeckers there seem headed the same way. Three Eastern Tawny Owls (two young birds and one adult) were also drawing an attentive crowd.

  After Nami, several Striated Heron and Little Egret worked a riverbank near my weird hotel. A colony of White-cheeked Starlings buzzed and burbled along a brushy riverbank. There were juvenile birds begging in every tree, and there had to have been at least 150 birds there, probably more.