Lovely Lapland Longspur

Lapland Longspur Calcarius lapponicus

Lapland Longspur Calcarius lapponicus (the brown tones really warm up in the sun)

Lapland Longspur Calcarius lapponicus (showing off its trademark 'longspurs' well)

Lapland Longspur Calcarius lapponicus

The bird merited a mention in the field station narrative, which I wrote that day

  One of my favoured TCBO bird encounters was with a Lapland Longspur. This particular bird showed up on September 11th and remained for several days. The bird was quite confiding, so much so that I almost tripped over it several occasions while checking ground traps. My one previous encounter with this species came on a memorable trip to Seosan with the BK Boys last November (http://snowyowllost.blogspot.ca/2015/12/seosan-november-28-29.html). Those birds were relatively distant, so the lengthy close-up views of the TCBO bird felt decadent.
  Is it just me, or is that bird smiling?

Wish I was there

The three Swaro-migos

  Ripping up Seosan with the Birds Korea boys, looking for Lapland Longspurs and Tundra Swans. That was way back in November, and it already feels like four lifetimes ago. Good times. We didn't know it at the time, but those were the good ol days.
(http://snowyowllost.blogspot.ca/2015/12/seosan-november-28-29.html)

Seosan, November 28-29, 2015

Surreal Seosan

Near Jiri-san

Subs and Loghry scanning Lapland Longspurs amidst the stubble

Eurasian Bittern Botaurus stellaris

Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus

Long-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus scolopaceus

Long-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus scolopaceus

Tundra Swan Cygnus columbianus (left) with Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus

Cloud of Lapland Longspurs (Calcarius lapponicus) - a very satisfying name to say...try it

Distant Lapland Longspur Calcarius lapponicus

  On November 28-29, I met up with two good friends, Loghry and Subho, for a grueling yet amazing weekend of birding at a huge site still full of birding potential, in spite of signs of trouble everywhere (concrete...construction...). We ended up logging 66 species for the weekend, with several surprises among them. Saturday was dim and overcast, with chilly temperatures hovering around freezing, and snow from earlier in the week still covering most of the landscape.

  On a weekend with many highlights, some bird encounters nevertheless stood out as noteworthy. We soon caught up with one of our target species, as 300-400 Lapland Longspurs shimmered restlessly across the landscape in undulating flocks, before coming to land in the fields. They vanished amidst the stubble and skulked among the furrows like mice upon landing, never giving very close looks. Soon after that encounter, we spotted two Tundra Swans mixed up with at least a hundred Whooper Swans, and we spent a long time comparing the two similar species.

  Several hours later, in a memorable and serendipitous birding moment, we pulled the car over next to a man-made pond to have a brief snack, as the rain started up again. While we were eating, all three of us casually looked to the right at the same time and saw a motionless shorebird on a spit of mud several metres from the car. Looking like a ‘Grey-tailed Tattler with issues’ at first glance, we stared at the bird in silent confusion for several seconds before starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together. It had to be...but it couldn’t be...it WAS...a Long-billed Dowitcher! A most welcome and unexpected encounter with this less than annual vagrant.

  Other notable target birds we spent time with included a Chinese Grey Shrike, a Lesser White-fronted Goose, and three Eurasian Bitterns. Geese were everywhere this weekend, with at least 5,000 Bean and Greater White-fronted Goose seen in and over the fields at all times. The most abundant raptor was Eastern Buzzard, with at least 19 seen over the weekend - several reddish individuals among them. A handful of Common Kestrels and Northern Goshawks were seen patrolling the fields, as well as three Hen Harriers. Multiple flocks of 30-60 Grey-capped Greenfinch and Brambling were seen near villages and lightly wooded areas, and lone Dusky and Naumann’s Thrushes in the same tree was an interesting sight. Yellow-throated, Rustic, and Black-faced Buntings were also present in most scrubby areas.

  On the 29^th, the skies were still overcast, and the temperatures were warmer (with most of the snow melting) with intermittent rain. The day was also a much quieter one, bird-wise. In the late morning, a Snow Goose was spotted with several hundred Bean and Greater White-fronted Geese near Seosan Birdland. None of the busloads of visitors to this tourist trap took note of the spectacle of wild geese within a stone’s throw of the parking lot. The visitors we saw were more interested in frightening a caged one-winged Cinereous Vulture and quivering Northern Goshawk by dancing (to the music being pumped out of speakers) and shouting in front of the cages, then laughing when the birds got agitated. These birds, along with a captive Eurasian Eagle Owl and Peregrine Falcon among others, were a pitiful and depressing sight indeed. For those interested in ‘birding’, several oversized fibreglass Hooded Cranes had been planted in a field for guests to look at through scopes. An enclosure next to Birdland held hundreds of Mandarin Ducks in cramped quarters, for some reason. This situation definitely merits further investigation. All in all, this place felt like a poorly thought out and grim attempt to soak up tourist money.

Striking North - Seosan, September 27-28, 2015

Birding among forsaken monoliths

The fields of Seosan

Seosan Super Moon

This way to Birdland! Sigh.

Ridiculous 'Birdland'

Dreaded Chuseok traffic

Former Eastern Cattle Egret Bubulcus coromandus

Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus with lunch

Black-browed Reed Warbler Acrocephalus bistrigiceps

First-year Red-throated Pipit Anthus cervinus

Pied Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta

  Two weekends ago, Loghry and I took a much-needed bird trip over Chuseok, Korea's Thanksgiving. Our original plan to hit Gageo-do was scuppered by forecast high winds that would have meant trouble for the ferry, so we opted for Seosan, an agricultural coastal plain about halfway up South Korea's west coast. We started things out in Suncheon, scoping out my patch at the bay. Nothing too nutsoids, but duck variety and numbers were up, and it was fun picking through shorebirds with Loghry's scope. The trip north to Seosan was slowed to a crawl at times by the infamous Chuseok traffic, that sees 35+ million Koreans take to the roads. Ugh.
  Acting on some hot tips from fellow Birds Koreans, we checked a few spots that have been known to host Pheasant-tailed Jacana and Watercock (shakes both fists, muttering oaths) in the past, but it was most likely a touch too late in the year for those specials.
  The rice fields kept us busy as we picked through the many snipes and pipits skulking in ditches. We had quite a few Common Snipes, Buff-bellied Pipits, and a few Red-throated Pipits as well - always an exciting species to watch, although the first year birds can be tricky to separate from Buff-bellied, especially at a distance. A few pacing Black-faced Spoonbills were a welcome sight among the egrets, as Black-browed Reed Warblers skulked among the reeds.
  The bird of the trip was Jason's first (and my second) Pied Avocet. Gorgeous bird! "Th-Th-That's not a Shelduck!!" Giddy high-fives all-round.
  Visible for miles on a hillside was Seosan Birdland - a ridiculous eyesore that appears to be nothing more than another wasteful and poorly-conceived tourist trap. Busloads of visitors can gawk at stuffed birds, climb on giant fibreglass cartoon birds, play with touch-screens, and buy t-shirts and hot dogs on sticks. It doesn't appear that birders, the local landscape, or indeed birds were considered when this repugnant white elephant was birthed.

More August-September images

Lovely Suncheon Bay

Creepy zombie scarecrow army

Feather from Eurasian Jay wing coverts

'Please don't leave your garbage here'...Sigh... 

Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus with Grey-tailed Tattler Tringa brevipes

Giant noisy remote-controlled crop-dusting helicopter - really?!

Scruffy young Yellow-throated Bunting Emberiza elegans

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher Ficedula zanthopygia

Sand Martin Riparia riparia

Terrible record shot of a Grey-backed Thrush Turdus hortulorum

Far Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis wing detail (with Barn Swallow flyby)

Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago

Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus

Red-necked Stint Calidris ruficollis

Dunlin Calidris alpina

Terrible record shot of a Eurasian Wryneck Jynx torquilla

  Just got back from an exhausting 36-hour birding session with Jason Loghry. We hit Suncheon Bay and Seosan, about halfway up South Korea's west coast. Our original plan saw us spending several days on my favourite island for birding, Gageo-do.
  Unfortunately, the winds of fate and the...actual winds (gusting to 40 km/hr) conspired to keep us mainland-bound, as we couldn't risk being trapped there if the return ferry was cancelled. We had a few interesting birds turn up at Seosan, and it was a treat, as always, both to bird with Jason, as well as blabber on about birds with him.
  More on Seosan soon.