A Jeju Return, July 28 - August 2, 2015

Roe Deer Capreolus capreolus

young Tiger Keelback Rhabdophis tigrinus

adult Tiger Keelback Rhabdophis tigrinus

young Black Paradise Flycatcher (Japanese Paradise Flycatcher) Terpsiphone atrocaudata

Streaked Shearwater Calonectris leucomelas

Grey-tailed Tattler Tringa brevipes on Gapa-do

Warbling (Japanese) White-eye Zosterops japonicus

Sea snakes - wanted dead or alive

Headed to Gapa-do

Gapa-do

Gapa-do

Melting in the Gapa-do heat

Searching for Ruddy Kingfishers at dawn with Mike

Ruddy Kingfisher habitat 

Mid-day skies

  Lacking a better idea and daydreaming my way through life, I returned to Jeju for our brief summer holiday. It was definitely odd being back after leaving for the last time...again. A lot has changed in a year, for the worse. Voracious development, mostly fuelled by Chinese money, continues unabated. Chinese condo towns, looking like ugly concrete tombstones for Jeju's environment, have sprouted up on once-quiet slopes of Halla Mountain. Sleepy coastal towns now invariably have several nouveau-Bohemian establishments marring the scene. These are usually garishly-painted fish and chip shops or cafes, run by Korean guys with moustaches and Peruvian pants, and they all offer an identically bland experience. There is the mandatory surfboard out front, broadcasting the generic 'funky' hippy decor inside, for the clots of selfie-stick-wielding yuppie mainland tourists to take pictures in front of. I'm not buying it any more.

  Rants aside, it was great to wander through the vestiges of my one-time patch, and see a few old friends. On the 29th, I chose the hottest day in 73 years to visit Gapa-do (41ºC), and it was miserable. Very few birds in evidence, no shade to speak of, and hours to kill before the return ferry. Shambles.

  The next day, I met up with good ol' Mike pre-dawn to walk a trail where Fairy Pittas and Black Paradise Flycatchers breed, and where I've heard Northern Boobooks and Ruddy Kingfishers (shakes fist at sky, swearing lustily) in the past. We encountered P-flies at several spots on the river, mostly younger birds from this summer's brood. The young birds have blackish eye-rings and bills, as opposed to the shocking blue on adult birds. At one point, a young P-fly was 'playing' with a young Great Tit, and it was amusing to watch them take turns chasing one another around a tree.

  Frustratingly true to form, we heard several Boobooks, often from quite close overhead, without seeing one. We also heard what was probably a Ruddy Kingfisher, or possibly a very odd woodpecker.

  I managed to get one new bird on the trip - a Swinhoes's Storm Petrel from the boat before getting to Jeju.

  Currently back in Suncheon, waiting for the heat bubble to break, being turned into (more of) a reclusive curmudgeon by it.

Double-dipping Part 2 AKA 'My Legs Hurt'

Summiting with Subho

Valley of the Achy Knees

Bear Country

Korean Hare Lepus coreanus

Japanese Bush Warbler Horornis diphone

Hazel Grouse Tetrastes bonasia

 Following another 'twitchy' hunch, Subho I headed north to Jiri-san ('san' = mountain) at the ungodly hour of 4:30 a.m. on July 10th. The trip was ostensibly exploratory, but I think the true motivating factor that got Subho out of Seoul and me out of bed was the chance of seeing Spotted Nutcracker at the peak, and perhaps Ruddy Kingfisher (shaking fist at sky) in the lower valleys. Fitting my 'Twitching is crap!' narrative well, we predictably didn't spot either of those species. I believe we picked a peak that was slightly too low, as Spotted Nutcrackers move higher in summer. That's how she goes.
  The best bird of the trip was a surprise Hazel Grouse that appeared in the trees above us as we halted on the trail for several minutes to get a better look at some buntings. The Hazel Grouse is a cryptic species, letting out a deceptively high-pitched call for a bird of its size. It also hangs out in trees much of the time, whereas it seems like it should be more of a ground-dwelling bird (which it often is). We also got looks some very grey Bull-headed Shrikes, young Japanese Bush Warblers, and Pale-legged Leaf Warblers, among the more common woodland species. Click here for better Hazel Grouse images: http://snowyowllost.blogspot.kr/2014/02/big-weekend-in-seoul.html
  Before we started the descent, I looked at the map and scoffed "Four hours to walk two kilometres? Ha! We'll be down in an hour and twenty minutes!" I was very soon eating my words, as the trail was extremely steep, and made up of a hellish series of uneven and slippery mini-boulders. To put an exclamation point on the matter, it started raining...we're talking Forrest Gump rain...halfway down. I was limping and sodden by the end, and my knees ached for several days after. As for my calves - they were wrapped in the rusty barbed-wire of extreme soreness for over a week.
  In spite of all those tribulations, we may just have to have another go at Jiri in the winter. I hear those nutcrackers are easier to see in winter, and there are Alpine Accentors up there too.
   In other news, it has been egg-fryingly hot and humid in Suncheon these days. I'm about to head out into the pre-dusk cool to continue my unending Watercock hunt, inspired by something an old man muttered to me the other day. "Watercocks? Oh yeah, there are tons of them on the other side of that river." Here's hoping he wasn't talking about the 1980's.

Suncheon Area, June 17 - August 3, 2015

juvenile Chestnut-cheeked Starling Agropsar philippensis

Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor

Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica

Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybrida

 It has been a hot and humid summer in Suncheon, but by no means has it been slow on the bird front. It seemed like three of the four pairs of nesting Chestnut-cheeked Starlings had left the area by June 17^th, with only one female spotted attending what sounded like several young. On July 10^th, one adult male was seen at the nest, perhaps with only one juvenile inside. By July 15^th, the sole Chestnut-cheeked Starling seen was a juvenile, finally out of the nest, flying to a group of nearby trees and back to the nest repeatedly. Perhaps in the vain hopes of being fed? On July 26^th, with Tim Edelsten, we were surprised to see an adult male and a juvenile/female type, at a site several kilometres away from the main nesting area. Could these have been members of the late-nesting family from the original site, or different birds altogether?

  At Suncheon Bay on July 15^th, after a tropical storm passed east of the area, I made out two terns in the morning gloom. A Whiskered Tern moving into non-breeding plumage, and a more sluggish tern with a heavy-looking black bill that looked good for Gull-billed Tern. When I returned the next day for a further look, a single Little Tern and two buoyant Whiskered Terns, all in crisp summer plumage, were spotted over the mudflats. Also of note on that day was a single Black-faced Spoonbill, a Yellow Bittern, increasing shorebird numbers, and several Black-headed and Saunders’s Gulls.

  Perhaps the most surprising July sighting at the bay was a Eurasian Bittern on July 10^th, which would appear to be one of the first summer records for this species in the ROK. Is this the same bird that has been sighted here throughout the late winter and spring? Why is it apparently spending the summer at this site?
  Small numbers of Greater Painted Snipe have been seen but mostly heard throughout this period, at three separate sites, on six different dates. At least a dozen Terek Sandpipers on June 17th seemed a notable summer record. A Eurasian Hoopoe was also seen that day at the bay, and again on July 19th. On July 10th, about ten Pacific Swifts were spotted, as well as a similar number of Barn Swallows, with three Red-rumped Swallows mixed in.
  By August 3rd, the Oriental Reed Warblers at the bay had all gone quiet. This silence may perhaps be related to the scruffy and vulnerable juveniles seen clumsily trying out their wings among the reeds.

Bar-headed Goose!

Hadong

Goose grounds

Getting his goose

Bar-headed Goose Anser indicus

Yellow Bittern Ixobrychus sinensis

Yellow Bittern Ixobrychus sinensis

Greater Painted Snipe Rostratula benghalensis (male)

Greater Painted Snipe Rostratula benghalensis (female)

  Ok I know I just wrote about how twitching is a waste of time (something a dipper would say), go bird your patch blah blah - but it's ok if the twitch is in your patch...right? Got the news on Friday from Tim that Korea's second (or is it?) Bar-headed Goose had turned up in nearby Hadong, so of course on Saturday morning that's where I was. Dr. Moores, Jason, and Ha Jeong Moon also showed up, and we had a nice long look at the goose, while debating its possible origins. We then hit my patch in Suncheon to look for some interesting typhoon-blown terns (Gull-billed, Whiskered) I'd spotted recently. More on them in an upcoming post. We didn't see any terns, but ended up spending time with some lovely Yellow Bitterns, as well as a surprise pair of Greater Painted Snipes. Read the proper reports here: 
Jason's trip report 
Dr.Moores on Bar-headed Geese
  In other news, my obsessive quest for the mythical Watercock (ha ha) continues... 

Double-dipping Part 1 AKA Just Stick to Your Patch

Ferry to Nami Island

Gapyeong

Tim, birding

Black Woodpecker holes...minus the Black Woodpeckers

Grey-headed Woodpecker Picus Canus

Young Large-billed Crow Corvus macrorhynchos, begging

Siberian Chipmunk Eutamias sibiricus

Eurasian Nuthatch Sitta europaea

Black-naped Oriole Oriolus chinensis

  Lured by the tantalizing prospect of potentially seeing five lifers (Ruddy Kingfisher, Black Woodpecker, Northern Boobook Owl, Eastern Tawny Owl, and Northern Scops Owl), I hauled my tired carcass up to Gapyeong, via Seoul, in the ungodly wee hours of June 27th. Just outside of town lies Nami Island, a lenticular wooded spot that is clogged with selfie-stick-wielding tourists. For some reason, the five aforementioned species, which are local and hard to see in Korea, regularly summer on the busy island.
  A key factor that contributed to my decision to brave the logistical morass that is Seoul was the prospect of meeting up with fellow Birds Koreans and all-around good eggs Tim and Subho. Seeing Tim again was a treat, and we had a grand old time bantering about birds, Koreans, and everything in between.
  The first sign of trouble on Nami was the conspicuous lack of Korean birding paparazzi. The rare and twitchable birds of Nami are like honey to the swarms of camouflaged Korean guys with massive lenses, no binoculars, and often questionable fieldcraft/ethics. We wandered through the gaudy crowds for hours in a vain effort to spot one of the island's rarities, but the grim reality was evident fairly soon on - I'd waited perhaps one or two weeks too long to head up there, and the young birds had apparently already fledged and left the island.
  Not wanting to admit defeat, I told Subho to stay home, said my goodbyes to Tim, and got a room in dumpy and unfriendly Gapyeong. I was up before dawn on the 28th, and headed up a promising mountain in the hopes of running into a Ruddy Kingfisher. Awesome dawn chorus, but nothing crazy. I then made my way back through Seoul and headed home.
  What's the moral of this tale of woe? Don't twitch. Stay home and explore your own patch. Visit promising spots repeatedly, even if there are no interesting birds on a given day. Look at Google Earth, and think like a bird. Every spot has interesting birds moving through it at some point. Go find them.

Breeding Ashy Minivet update

female Ashy Minivet Pericrocotus divaricatus (Gageo Island, May 2013)

  It would seem that my weekend sighting of juvenile (therefore a breeding record) Ashy Minivets is potentially not the first Korean summer/breeding record for the ROK - but it is at least the most recent, and at best "the first adequately-documented breeding record for the whole of the Korean peninsula!" Details, and plenty of them, can be found in the comments section under the report on the Birds Korea blog:
http://www.birdskoreablog.org/?p=16166#comment-22577

A Return to Goheung, July 4-5, 2015 (Rare South Korean summer/breeding record for Ashy Minivet!)

Black-capped Kingfisher Halcyon pileata

juvenile Ashy Minivet Pericrocotus divaricatus

juvenile Ashy Minivet Pericrocotus divaricatus

  A return trip to Goheung has once more yielded some very interesting birds. Goheung is rich in a variety of habitats, ranging from mixed mountain forests, tidal mudflats, small sandy beaches, vast tracts of scrub-fringed rice fields, weedy reservoirs, and impressive stretches of reedbeds.

  The undoubted highlight of the trip was found after a 45-minute hike up a quiet mountain trail, amidst mixed deciduous/coniferous forest. The distinct trill of Ashy Minivets rang across a valley, and a dramatic scene was soon witnessed in glimpses through the dense foliage. Two Eurasian Jays seemed to be harrying at least two juvenile Ashy Minivets, while one, more probably two, adult birds flew back and forth repeatedly, calling urgently.

  This is apparently the first summer/breeding record for the ROK for close to 20 years. The call of the juvenile birds was weaker yet more urgent than that of the adults, which may explain the strange ‘minivet-like’ call I heard coming from a nearby valley on June 13^th. This encounter brought to mind several Ashy Minivets (?) heard calling on a mountain near downtown Suncheon on June 7^th. Were these birds late migrants, or perhaps something else?

  Earlier in the day, while driving through a small town, a Black-capped Kingfisher was seen casually perched on wires by the side of the road. It eventually flew down to a wooded area near some rice fields. I had forgotten what large and impressive birds they were!

  As when I visited on June 13-14, the mountains were bustling with juveniles – young Great, Varied, Long-tailed, and Coal Tits, Eastern Crowned Warblers, Yellow-throated Buntings, and Pale Thrushes were all seen trying out fresh wings and skills. Two pairs of Black Paradise Flycatcher, and at least five Fairy Pittas were heard in the hills on that earlier trip, but not on this more recent visit. A tiny Ussuri Mamushi Pitviper was also seen along the mountain trail. At lower elevations, it was great to see seemingly very healthy summer populations of Chinese Sparrowhawk, Striated Heron, Black-naped Oriole, Oriental Dollarbird, Little Ringed Plover, and Meadow Bunting. Goheung is an exciting and special place to go birding – I will try to return as often as possible, as there is so much great habitat and potential there.