Strandman
Well-known member
Just back from a couple of weeks in South Korea, partly surveying for Scaly-sided Merganser and partly winter birding. Not a full report, but here are some notes in case helpful.
General: South Korea looks deceptively small on the map, alongside the mighty China. But it's about 5 hours driving time from Seoul in NW and 8 hours from NE coast down to Busan in SE and on a birding trip you need to cover points spread about the country. So I did over 2,000Km in 2 weeks on a clockwise loop. There's enough light to bird 7AM to 6PM and there are new expressways all over, so the driving doesn't eat too much birding time.
Development (destruction) is rampant. Even in “countryside” there's urban sprawl and construction at every turn. Rivers and streams are being tamed and remnant mudflats are still being reclaimed. But despite everything, there's still some great East Asian birding to be had. There's little or no hunting of geese and other wildfowl or trapping of buntings, so in the habitat which remains untrashed or part-trashed, there are still birds and they can be approachable. I saw about 175 species over the two weeks, but I wasn't listing and as ever I didn't devote too much time to the small stuff. More woodland time in the south would add to the list- for example a few days in Jeju.
Weather is cold. It is freezing throughout in normal winter, coldest inland in the north (can be pushing -20C at dawn), but this year has seen unusually stable and warmish weather. So not much snow on the ground and temperatures sometimes creeping above freezing during the day.
Gen is rather hard to come by. I would recommend Birds Korea website as a start point http://www.birdskorea.org/BK-Startpage.shtml. But bear in mind that they are a hard-pressed and small conservation NGO, not a tour company.
Cheorwon area north of Seoul It's a grand spectacle here at dawn- about 75 Red-crowned and 250 White-naped Cranes flying in from the DMZ against the mountains of North Korea to feed in rice stubble. Cinereous Vultures from Mongolia overhead and a rather disturbing take on the Venus de Milo at a feeding station- see pic! Parties of Yellow-throated and Rustic Buntings are common, Siberian Accentor and Naumann's Thrushes. Plus a discovery- flock of over 50 Pine Buntings including a dazzling breeding plumaged male, all perched up in a minefield.
Arboretum east of Seoul Famous site for Solitary Snipe, still present but a stretch of the the stream they use has been levelled. Great views of Grey-headed Green Woodpecker and still my favourite of them all- White-backed Woodpecker. Vivaldi being played on loudspeakers throughout.
Central rivers We surveyed about 100Km of part-frozen rivers with a final tally of 115 Scaly-sided Mergansers, but plenty of bankside destruction and disturbance for them to cope with. Top bird- rare, wild and beautiful. White-tailed Eagles frequent, other wildfowl including Falcated Duck and Mandarin, plus a surprise: a Ring-necked Duck (first for South Korea) in mass of aythya, Goldeneye, Whooper Swan and sawbills below a dam that has probably never been birded before. 3 Barn Swallows hawking over a river in -6C were about as unexpected here as they would be at Lake Windermere in January.
NE coast There are busy harbours all the way up the NE coast with ducks, grebes, gulls. Some wonderful Smew at first light at Gangneung and then we dropped in to admire the returning Bufflehead at Sokcho. Big numbers of gulls in mixed flocks of Vega/Heuglin's/Mongolian, plus common Slaty-backed and a sprinkle of Glaucous-winged and Glaucous. An apparent Caspian Gull (cachinnans) and what seemed like a good Iceland Gull.
A local fisherman had gamely agreed to take us out along the north edge of territorial waters, but he kept veering south for some reason! Nonetheless a very successful outing with 3 Long-billed Murrelets, record-busting 12 Least Auklets (super tiny) and near 50 Brunnich's Guillemots, plus more expected 1000+ Ancient Murrelets. Also bravo was a Yellow-billed Loon found offshore in the morning, which paddled in to fish at close range when the harbour fell quiet. Inshore hundreds of Arctic Loons, Red-necked grebes etc. and a scatter of Black Scoter, Asiatic White-winged Scoter and some Harlequins.
SE: Busan/Nakdong estuary/Joonam reservoir Visited an American Herring Gull at Tonghae en route down to Busan (all these gulls...what is happening to me?) and also Rhinoceros Auklets there, with a break overnight at Pohang where a fine start to the day- first bird was a mighty Steller's Sea Eagle camped out on the ice at dawn.
The Nakdong at Busan is the most reliable site for Relict Gulls, of which 3 running about on the mudflats like Stone Curlews, whilst the rest of the gulls loafed on the waters edge. Then some time at Joonam with the thousands of middendorffi Bean Geese. Mighty honking beasts and a rare world bird. Also 50+ White-naped Cranes here, feeding alongside a small flock of Baikal Teal.
Suncheon Bay on south coast and Haenam in south-west Suncheon is famous for its Hooded Cranes and a monstrous visitor centre plonked on former crane habitat. 575 Hooded Cranes, including Common Crane hybrids which comprise a rather startling 10%+ of the flock, and a gleaming Roughleg. Swan Goose is a highlight for me- 15 with Whoopers on the tidal bay. I'm always surprised Swan Goose isn't higher up birders' wishlists- it may be proud ancestor of some farm geese, but it's a fascinating and rare bird in its wild state. Also passerines bouncing around- flocks of Buff-bellied Pipits and Olive-backed Pipits, a Chinese Grosbeak, Chestnut-eared Buntings in the reedy ditches along with the commoner species (Rustic, Little, Black-faced).
Haenam is handy for three huge reclamation areas with reservoirs and rice fields. 10,000++ geese. Amidst blizzards and a biting wind we managed to locate at least a dozen Lesser White-fronts. They might get commoner here: over 100,000 geese in the country and goose numbers are rising in contrast to tumbling populations in China. Glorious sight of an Eastern Imperial Eagle and an Oriental White Stork flying together. The eagle stayed aloft in a blizzard, visible as shadow in the falling snow along with a couple of Cinereous Vultures. Also stumbled on Ochre-rumped aka Japanese Reed Buntings.
Geum estuary in west The big Baikal Teal flock has been alternating between here and Haenam, but as at January 2014 is caught up in a major avian influenza scare- its more likely that they are victims of poultry waste than being the source of disease, but not good at all to see the finger being pointed at the flock on national news. Elsewhere on the Geum a glorious morning with Saunder's Gulls and a Relict over the iced mudflats and 32 mighty Swan Geese rooting in the reedy fringes.
The final madness On the way out, twitched South Korea's second ever European Robin on a dismal expressway embankment in the middle of Seoul.
Major dips? One big one- Chinese Grey Shrike. I've seen one before out here, but was hoping spend more time on them this trip. Seemingly fewer about in a mild winter and avian influenza restrictions meant that one holding territory at Seosan alongside a Great Grey Shrike was out of bounds.
Final thoughts South Korea is not tranquil or pristine, but for all-round East Asia birding action I prefer it to Japan. My perfect winter trip would start in South Korea, miss out most of Japan except for some albatrossing out of Tokyo, then finish off on some proper ice off Hokkaido.
General: South Korea looks deceptively small on the map, alongside the mighty China. But it's about 5 hours driving time from Seoul in NW and 8 hours from NE coast down to Busan in SE and on a birding trip you need to cover points spread about the country. So I did over 2,000Km in 2 weeks on a clockwise loop. There's enough light to bird 7AM to 6PM and there are new expressways all over, so the driving doesn't eat too much birding time.
Development (destruction) is rampant. Even in “countryside” there's urban sprawl and construction at every turn. Rivers and streams are being tamed and remnant mudflats are still being reclaimed. But despite everything, there's still some great East Asian birding to be had. There's little or no hunting of geese and other wildfowl or trapping of buntings, so in the habitat which remains untrashed or part-trashed, there are still birds and they can be approachable. I saw about 175 species over the two weeks, but I wasn't listing and as ever I didn't devote too much time to the small stuff. More woodland time in the south would add to the list- for example a few days in Jeju.
Weather is cold. It is freezing throughout in normal winter, coldest inland in the north (can be pushing -20C at dawn), but this year has seen unusually stable and warmish weather. So not much snow on the ground and temperatures sometimes creeping above freezing during the day.
Gen is rather hard to come by. I would recommend Birds Korea website as a start point http://www.birdskorea.org/BK-Startpage.shtml. But bear in mind that they are a hard-pressed and small conservation NGO, not a tour company.
Cheorwon area north of Seoul It's a grand spectacle here at dawn- about 75 Red-crowned and 250 White-naped Cranes flying in from the DMZ against the mountains of North Korea to feed in rice stubble. Cinereous Vultures from Mongolia overhead and a rather disturbing take on the Venus de Milo at a feeding station- see pic! Parties of Yellow-throated and Rustic Buntings are common, Siberian Accentor and Naumann's Thrushes. Plus a discovery- flock of over 50 Pine Buntings including a dazzling breeding plumaged male, all perched up in a minefield.
Arboretum east of Seoul Famous site for Solitary Snipe, still present but a stretch of the the stream they use has been levelled. Great views of Grey-headed Green Woodpecker and still my favourite of them all- White-backed Woodpecker. Vivaldi being played on loudspeakers throughout.
Central rivers We surveyed about 100Km of part-frozen rivers with a final tally of 115 Scaly-sided Mergansers, but plenty of bankside destruction and disturbance for them to cope with. Top bird- rare, wild and beautiful. White-tailed Eagles frequent, other wildfowl including Falcated Duck and Mandarin, plus a surprise: a Ring-necked Duck (first for South Korea) in mass of aythya, Goldeneye, Whooper Swan and sawbills below a dam that has probably never been birded before. 3 Barn Swallows hawking over a river in -6C were about as unexpected here as they would be at Lake Windermere in January.
NE coast There are busy harbours all the way up the NE coast with ducks, grebes, gulls. Some wonderful Smew at first light at Gangneung and then we dropped in to admire the returning Bufflehead at Sokcho. Big numbers of gulls in mixed flocks of Vega/Heuglin's/Mongolian, plus common Slaty-backed and a sprinkle of Glaucous-winged and Glaucous. An apparent Caspian Gull (cachinnans) and what seemed like a good Iceland Gull.
A local fisherman had gamely agreed to take us out along the north edge of territorial waters, but he kept veering south for some reason! Nonetheless a very successful outing with 3 Long-billed Murrelets, record-busting 12 Least Auklets (super tiny) and near 50 Brunnich's Guillemots, plus more expected 1000+ Ancient Murrelets. Also bravo was a Yellow-billed Loon found offshore in the morning, which paddled in to fish at close range when the harbour fell quiet. Inshore hundreds of Arctic Loons, Red-necked grebes etc. and a scatter of Black Scoter, Asiatic White-winged Scoter and some Harlequins.
SE: Busan/Nakdong estuary/Joonam reservoir Visited an American Herring Gull at Tonghae en route down to Busan (all these gulls...what is happening to me?) and also Rhinoceros Auklets there, with a break overnight at Pohang where a fine start to the day- first bird was a mighty Steller's Sea Eagle camped out on the ice at dawn.
The Nakdong at Busan is the most reliable site for Relict Gulls, of which 3 running about on the mudflats like Stone Curlews, whilst the rest of the gulls loafed on the waters edge. Then some time at Joonam with the thousands of middendorffi Bean Geese. Mighty honking beasts and a rare world bird. Also 50+ White-naped Cranes here, feeding alongside a small flock of Baikal Teal.
Suncheon Bay on south coast and Haenam in south-west Suncheon is famous for its Hooded Cranes and a monstrous visitor centre plonked on former crane habitat. 575 Hooded Cranes, including Common Crane hybrids which comprise a rather startling 10%+ of the flock, and a gleaming Roughleg. Swan Goose is a highlight for me- 15 with Whoopers on the tidal bay. I'm always surprised Swan Goose isn't higher up birders' wishlists- it may be proud ancestor of some farm geese, but it's a fascinating and rare bird in its wild state. Also passerines bouncing around- flocks of Buff-bellied Pipits and Olive-backed Pipits, a Chinese Grosbeak, Chestnut-eared Buntings in the reedy ditches along with the commoner species (Rustic, Little, Black-faced).
Haenam is handy for three huge reclamation areas with reservoirs and rice fields. 10,000++ geese. Amidst blizzards and a biting wind we managed to locate at least a dozen Lesser White-fronts. They might get commoner here: over 100,000 geese in the country and goose numbers are rising in contrast to tumbling populations in China. Glorious sight of an Eastern Imperial Eagle and an Oriental White Stork flying together. The eagle stayed aloft in a blizzard, visible as shadow in the falling snow along with a couple of Cinereous Vultures. Also stumbled on Ochre-rumped aka Japanese Reed Buntings.
Geum estuary in west The big Baikal Teal flock has been alternating between here and Haenam, but as at January 2014 is caught up in a major avian influenza scare- its more likely that they are victims of poultry waste than being the source of disease, but not good at all to see the finger being pointed at the flock on national news. Elsewhere on the Geum a glorious morning with Saunder's Gulls and a Relict over the iced mudflats and 32 mighty Swan Geese rooting in the reedy fringes.
The final madness On the way out, twitched South Korea's second ever European Robin on a dismal expressway embankment in the middle of Seoul.
Major dips? One big one- Chinese Grey Shrike. I've seen one before out here, but was hoping spend more time on them this trip. Seemingly fewer about in a mild winter and avian influenza restrictions meant that one holding territory at Seosan alongside a Great Grey Shrike was out of bounds.
Final thoughts South Korea is not tranquil or pristine, but for all-round East Asia birding action I prefer it to Japan. My perfect winter trip would start in South Korea, miss out most of Japan except for some albatrossing out of Tokyo, then finish off on some proper ice off Hokkaido.
