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.

Butterflies of Korea - Part I

Asian Admiral Vanessa indica

Asian Comma Polygonia c-aureum

Asian Swallowtail Papilo xuthus 

Blue Admiral Kaniska canace 

Common Beak Libythea lepita

Common Bluebottle Graphium sarpedon

Pallas’ Sailer Neptis Sappho

Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas 

Miscellaneous Suncheon Critters

Japanese Tiger Beetle Cicindela chinensis japonica 

Siberian Chipmunk Eutamias sibiricus

Bowed Fiddler Crab Uca arcuata

Korean Brown Frog Rana coreana

Raccoon Dog Nyctereutes procyonoides pup

Raccoon Dog Nyctereutes procyonoides pup

Common Mudskipper Periophthalmus kalolo

  Slow bird week, so here are some other critters of late. Raccoon Dogs have always been one shifty paw ahead of me - I'd never gotten a good look at one, until last week. A few days ago I stumbled round a bend and saw two pups sitting on a path. We stared at each other for about four seconds, before they clumsily loped off. I'm hoping to clumsily lope off to Dolsan tomorrow, to get a much-needed break from Suncheon, and perhaps see if any fall migrants are kicking about.

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.