Gangneung week the third, October 21-28, 2018

Plenty of productive, scruffy habitat along the Namdae River

Samgak chamchi kimbap on my favourite river rock - an important mid-walk ritual

Wildlife stairs in Gyeongpo Lake Park

Wildlife stairs in an adjacent farm field

My friendly neighbourhood Red-billed Starling flock (+2 Chinese Grosbeak)

Eastern Great Tit Parus minor 

Tree Sparrow Passer montanus

Stejneger’s Stonechat Saxicola stejnegeri

An odd female Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus with
muted wing patches and overall scruffy plumage - young bird?

skulky Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala

spot the Buff-bellied Pipit Anthus rubescens

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker Dendrocopos kizuki
(Let's hope a Japanese princess doesn't steal this image...)

Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus

Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis

Eurasian Coot Fulica atra

Rook Corvus frugilegus

Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybrid

Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybrid

Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybrid

Ussuri Mamushi Pitviper Gloydius blomhoffi

Praying Mantis sp.

  Dynamic turnover here on the lovely Gangwon coast, with new personal Gangneung firsts on every day out. Some of the breeding species that I saw in early October are gone, and the feeling is one of less migrants on the move of late. I’m getting a better feel for the resident species, as well as the birds that call this corner of the province their winter home. My Gangneung list has almost cracked 100, and my ‘house list’ is also creeping up - I should eclipse my 2013 Seogwipo apartment list (26) soon. But who’s keeping lists, eh?
  A three-hour exploratory walk west along the Namdaechon on October 21 turned up very little of interest, apart from a fat little Ussuri Mamushi Pitviper. I ended up in the middle of literal nowhere, and I had to get creative when it came to getting back to town. That’s all part of the fun though, innit?
  On that note, I probably won’t be getting a motorcycle, or even a bicycle, this time round. No wheels is a bit sad, but the habitat here just doesn’t justify it. Unlike Suncheon, it’s not a ‘drive there and walk in a big circle’ type of place. The two main patches, the Namdae River and Gyeongpo Lake, both demand a lot of linear walking to check all the birdy nooks and crannies. Whereas at first I was doing both in a single day, as I find more of those nooks in each spots, I’ve split the two spots up into separate days now, to better scour each properly (and not blow my legs out!).
  On October 26, Younghwan introduced me to some of the nice folks that work at Gyeongpo Lake, and we shared coffee and bird gossip. I noticed the ditches in and around the lake feature ‘wildlife stairs,’ which allow small creatures to escape the concrete deathtraps – nice to see, let’s hope they catch on. A young Northern Goshawk and another Amur Falcon stood out.
  The following day at the lake, two Whooper Swans and two Whiskered Terns were personal Gangneung firsts.
  On October 28, a walk along the river went from sunny to gloomy and rainy, then back again. Starting to really understand and enjoy the habitat along the river, which cuts the town in half. I live in the southern bit, with the farmers. The day was notable for its clean air and clear water – loads of fish in the river. Gangneung firsts were a Long-billed Plover, Green Sandpiper, Black-faced Bunting, probable Ochre-rumped Bunting, and Long-tailed Rosefinch, all along the Namdaechon.
  What else? I thought I knew few things about terns…terns out I didn’t. See what I did there? Bunting variety is picking up, which is awesome because I loves me my skulkers. Other than a few Dusky Thrushes, the same can’t be said about thrushes yet. Not even a single Pale Thrush! Hoping for more species of thrush soon.
  Or should I say ‘spices of thrush,’ as Younghwan does. I think that is adorable, and I may use it from now on instead of ‘species.’ Younghwan is an awesome dude, for real.
  In other news, there’s an annoying squeak in the rigging of my camera bag that haunts my perambulations, but it seems to bring out the buntings, so I’m not fixing it.

Way back when

Gotta love those skiddy hoar frost morning rides

Robin, Subho, and Loghry try to spot an Eastern Water Rail at dusk - two of them succeeded... 

Tim finally gets his Sandhill Crane

Tim scans the bay from the seawall for a sunset surprise

I find my second Suncheon Sandhill

Eurasian Nuthatch Sitta europaea

Eurasian Siskin Spinus spinus

Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus

Eurasian Magpie Pica pica

Little Grebes Tachybaptus ruficollis huddle and circle on a ridiculously small unfrozen patch

Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus

Hooded Crane Grus monacha

  It’s been a slow bird week, so I was having a traipse down memory lane, sifting through old Suncheon folders from this time last year, and found a few I had plum forgotten about in the mindless scramble of my last month in Korea. Here are a few more memories from the best patch I’ve had the pleasure of birding in - although it was being steadily degraded by encroaching development when I left, and I hear that has continued unabated. Incidentally, the memories would have paled without the cool dudesters in those pics.
  Going up north tomorrow for a few days to hang out with Joey, and I’ve got some ambitious, Google Maps-inspired winter birding planned. Fingers crossed.

Motorcycle birding haiku(s)

Iced Suncheon fingers (Daelim Daystar)

Lost at sunset on Geoje (Daelim VS)

Halla-san hovers (Daelim Magma)

Bike birding is tops
No licence is no problem
Don't crash when birds pass

Pileated Woodpecker eating berries

male Pileated Woodpecker Hylatomus pileatus

  I have birded my last at Suncheon Bay - sold the bike today, and I shall not return to the best patch I've ever had the pleasure of birding. A patch that, like the rest of Korea, is in a state of steady degradation in the name of lucre and ignorance. So that has me a bit down, but chin up - before returning to Montreal I will be birding in and around Seoul for the next two weeks, including a few days on Deokjeok Island, a spot that I haven't birded since way back in 2008. I fear I may be rambling from exhaustion. I'll soon have some time to reflect properly on Suncheon/Korea.
  In the meantime, here's an interesting shot of a Pileated Woodpecker eating a berry in Hudson, Quebec, from late September 2008. While they favour carpenter ants and other insects, up to 20% of their diet consists of plant matter.

Last bird of the year

Smog-veiled Suncheon Bay

Pine Bunting Emberiza leucocephalos

   It's December 31st again, and I've managed to sneak in a cheeky birding session this morning, which is becoming something of a personal tradition for this date. After a hairy pre-dawn motorcycle ride out to the bay (frozen fingers, frosty visor, and terrifying black ice), I shuffled around a hazy landscape in which no sounds resounded except for the glorious complaints of Hooded Cranes.
  After a couple of quiet hours, and just as I muttered "What a slow bloody bird day!" to myself, I spotted three LBJs perched immobile at the top of the 'Long-eared Owl' tree. On the large side for buntings and strangely perched in a tree (as opposed to skulking restlessly in the scrub) they had me confounded until I was able to creep in closer. The warm chest had me thinking Meadow Bunting, but a glimpse of a Tree Sparrow-like white cheek clinched it...Pine Bunting! PINE BUNTING! A very long-awaited life bird for me, and one that I had long since given up all reasonable hopes of seeing. I spent a few glorious minutes watching them in the gloomy light before they flew off, seemingly towards the very horizon. Happy New Year indeed!

Here's what I wrote last year on this date:

"There are no suitable adjectives. Snowy *#@%ing Owl. 
 A perfect way to end the year. Interestingly, my birding buds in Korea, JP and Subs, also ended out their years with owlifers. Situational symmetry. I just realized that for the last few years, I've been birding hard on December 31st. In 2013 I was in Seoul searching unsuccessfully for Hazel Grouse, and the last day of 2012 saw Dr. Moores and I freezing in the name of a Long-tailed Shrike at Igidae. Here's hoping that 2015 will bring us all more awesome birds, and hopefully less bad news about bird habitat, as well as every other damn thing."

Suncheon Highlights, August 8 - September 26, 2015

Suncheon Bay

Creeping around in the hills of Dolsan Island

Pechora Pipt Anthus gustavi

juvenile White-winged Tern Chlidonias leucopterus

Broad-billed Sandpiper Limicola falcinellus

Black-capped Kingfisher Halcyon pileata

Pied Harrier Circus melanoleucos

Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus

  It has been incredible to observe the gradual seasonal changes occurring at Suncheon Bay, a stunning and peaceful place at dawn. Unfortunately, at other times it is not so peaceful, with a wide range of disturbances spoiling the tranquility of the habitat used by large numbers of resident birds as well as migrating shorebirds. Picnickers using pedal cars to access quiet areas of the bay often leave behind heaps of garbage, much of which ends up blowing into the bay. On some days, a large (almost four metres long) and noisy remote-controlled crop-dusting helicopter was seen over the rice fields. It raced noisily up and down the fields adjacent to the bay, repeatedly putting up flocks of egrets and shorebirds. Additionally, large noisemakers on five-minute timers that produce shotgun-like booms where rice is being harvested have been heard for several weeks in Suncheon’s otherwise sedate rice fields.
  The endless disruptive construction work being done on the seawall finally seems to be tapering down. Unfortunately, the Eurasian Bittern seen on July 10^th has not been seen since the heavy construction equipment moved into 'its' area shortly after that sighting. I sincerely hope this area adjacent to the eco-park stays closed to the general public. Thanks to the crowds, the well-touristed main park is already fairly unwelcoming to migrating birds. The agricultural areas around it are so vital to migrants, it would be calamitous if they were to be opened up to organized tourism, or developed further.

  On August 8^th, several Raccoon Dog pups were spotted near the bay, as well as 50-60 Cattle Egrets. August 26^th saw a flyover male Black-winged Stilt, a Black-capped Kingfisher, and a Sand Martin mixed in with at least a hundred Barn Swallows. Notable at the bay on September 4^th were two young ‘tigery’ Yellow Bitterns, and a reduction in both Cattle Egret numbers and colouration, with only seven mostly white individuals seen in the rice fields. Several Far Eastern Curlews were observed cleverly feeding on crabs on a small inland path. Another Sand Martin was seen with a 70-strong group of hirundines perched on power lines, mostly Barn Swallows with six Red-rumped mixed in. Two days later near the bay, observations included an Asian Brown Flycatcher, and another clumsy young Yellow Bittern.

  The following week, on the 10^th, new arrivals at the bay included low double-digit numbers of Red-necked Stint, Common Snipe, White, Grey, and Eastern Yellow Wagtail, as well as a Eurasian Hoopoe. Shorebird numbers continued to gradually swell. Only one Cattle Egret remained in a field where dozens had recently fed. The best bird of the day was also the first – an extremely early Short-eared Owl flushed from a ditch among rice fields just before dawn. Its underparts and side profile were seen well through binoculars as it flushed and flew low along the ditch. A pleasant surprise later in the day was the sight of at least 200 Barn Swallows sagging down power lines right outside my window, with several of them showing a pinkish wash to their underparts.

  On September 15^th, dawn at the bay saw a female Black-winged Stilt, two Yellow Bitterns, still decent numbers of Eastern Yellow Wagtail, with Common Snipe numbers down to five. The day’s highlight was a juvenile White-winged Tern flying low just above the rice fields, deftly catching insects on the wing, and cavorting with Barn Swallows at times. This was my first time observing the species, and it was a real treat! No renewed sign of the Short-eared Owl on the 17th, and the White-winged Tern appeared to have moved on. The Black-winged Stilt, Red-necked Stints, Eastern Yellow Wagtails, and several Common Snipes remain, while several Far Eastern Cisticolas were seen and heard calling from high overhead. Three days later, a confiding Broad-billed Sandpiper was seen. It was seen again on the 23^rd, along with an apparent Pied Harrier and Black-winged Stilt still, and a personal first Stejneger’s Stonechat of the fall.

  The morning of the 24^th had a notably large congregation of Little and Intermediate Egrets spotted on a small waterway near the bay, totalling perhaps 70 birds. At least 250 Barn Swallows and several Red-rumped Swallows were seen intensely feeding where reeds give way to mudflats, presumably preparing for their long flight south. An Arctic Warbler seemed out of place on the seawall, flitting nervously through the scrub. 

  The morning also produced a memorable encounter with a bird I had seen only once previously. On the way out of the rice fields, a pipit flushed from the path in front of my motorcycle. I quickly shut down, coasted to a stop, and hunched behind the handlebars. To my delight, the bird, a cracking Pechora Pipit, walked along the ditch straight towards me, and I was able to observe it from very close range for several minutes. An incredible birding moment.
  Not much different on the 26^th, with best being a Eurasian Wryneck. Shorebirds were represented by at least one hundred Black-tailed Godwits, and smaller numbers of Common Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Red-necked Stint, Eurasian and Far Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel, Common Snipe, Terek Sandpiper, Pacific Golden Plover, Dunlin, Marsh Sandpiper, and the lingering Black-winged Stilt.

  Away from the Bay, a weekend trip to Dolsan-do on August 29-30^th had several highlights - good flight views of a Grey Nightjar, seven Grey-streaked Flycatcher, a frustratingly quick look at a plain ‘olivey’ flycatcher (perhaps a female Blue-and-white?), eight Red-rumped Swallows still nesting in a small coastal town, and three Eastern Crowned Warblers. On September 8^th, a female Yellow-rumped Flycatcher was spotted in a small ‘nursery’ woods next to a reservoir near Suncheon. Young Black-naped Orioles, Brown-eared Bulbuls, Azure-winged and Eurasian Magpies tested their wings under the watchful eye of several perched adult birds nearby. 

  Northwest of Suncheon on September 19th, aside from a band of confiding Long-tailed Tits, a lone Grey-backed Thrush was seen skulking in a tiny remnant of what was a lush quiet valley just three months ago. It has since sadly been reduced to a clear-cut moonscape, the wood sold for lumber by a land-owner that lives in Seoul.