Birding quickly in South Korea (2 Viewers)

[John from Scappoose]

I will be making a quick business trip to Korea in August. Not much time will be available for birding but I am not going to miss any chance I get.

I'd really like to communicate with anyone familiar with birding in the central Seoul area, especially anyone who, like me, birds during business trips (it's an art in itself...).

Many thanks in advance,
John

 

[HokkaidoStu]

I'd really like to communicate with anyone familiar with birding in the central Seoul area, especially anyone who, like me, birds during business trips (it's an art in itself...).


John

Hi John. Here's a good place to start

http://www.birdskorea.org/

Nial Moores is a well-known English birder based in Korea. He'd be an excellent person to contact.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

I will be making a quick business trip to Korea in August. Not much time will be available for birding but I am not going to miss any chance I get.

I'd really like to communicate with anyone familiar with birding in the central Seoul area, especially anyone who, like me, birds during business trips (it's an art in itself...).

Many thanks in advance,
John

I'm leaving for Korea tomorrow. I've found Namsan Park and the gardens across the road from the Hyatt Hotel are decent (or at least they were in the late fall). I also went birding with a local expat last year in one of the mountain parks on the north side of Seoul last September, too. It was teeming with people, but not with birds.

There are islands in the Han River that are said to be a bird sanctuary, but I think that's more a winter thing (ducks, etc.). You can look down on them from the bridge that crosses from Yoido to the north bank of the river. I suspect if you had a scope you could view them from the north shore, but that's not likely to happen on a business trip.

I'm actually going to head out to Ganghwa Island on Saturday and see how it goes. Wish me luck.

 

[Neil]

I'm going to be in Seoul this week. Where is the nearest wader site that I can get to in an hour or two? Neil

 

[Xenospiza]

If you can hire a car, you could go to the southern shore of the nearby island of Ganghwado (also spelled Kanghwado), an 80 km drive I guess (but good luck getting out of Seoul). The best viewable mudflat areas are east of Dongmak-ri (also spelled, and pretty much pronounced, as Tongmak-ri), and there is a tidal roost west of this village in some fish ponds. At low tide, you can forget about seeing anything there: the mud flats are huge...
It may be just too far away, so you might better get a spot somewhere between Incheon Airport and Seoul – which I wouldn't know...

 

[Strandman]

I'm going to be in Seoul this week. Where is the nearest wader site that I can get to in an hour or two? Neil

Have you tried the forum on BirdsKorea and/or Nial Moores? I know he had about 10,000 waders including a couple of Nordmann's at Yeongjeong (Incheon) on 17 May and he will also know tide times. He is currently on Seocheong Island, but picking up e-mails.

 

[miketaylor]

Hi all,

In a similar vein, I'll be spending a few weeks in Sept/Oct working in Bundang, which is a suburb of Seoul (in the Korea Telecom offices). I'm a reasonably competent British birder, but have never been to Korea before, and have only done a very little birding in Thailand about 20 years ago, so much of the birdlife will be new to me (and I've got very little time for researching the trip as it's been organised at short notice).

Can anyone recommend any sites around Seoul, even parks, where I can try to get to grips with the common species and hopefully pick up some migrants?

I'd also be interested in any wader sites, but I guess they may be a long way out from Seoul.

Thanks for any help.

Mike

 

[ampersand]

Hi all,

In a similar vein, I'll be spending a few weeks in Sept/Oct working in Bundang, which is a suburb of Seoul (in the Korea Telecom offices). I'm a reasonably competent British birder, but have never been to Korea before, and have only done a very little birding in Thailand about 20 years ago, so much of the birdlife will be new to me (and I've got very little time for researching the trip as it's been organised at short notice).

Can anyone recommend any sites around Seoul, even parks, where I can try to get to grips with the common species and hopefully pick up some migrants?

I'd also be interested in any wader sites, but I guess they may be a long way out from Seoul.

Thanks for any help.

Mike

Namsan is my local park but I don't do so much birding there at this time of year. If you can bare the humidity it is worth a try.

Uiwang is a pretty good/nice lake to bird - various habitat surrounds the lake. Here's a link that might help
http://forum.birdskorea.org/index.php?topic=188.0

Good luck

 

[miketaylor]

Namsan is my local park but I don't do so much birding there at this time of year. If you can bare the humidity it is worth a try.

Uiwang is a pretty good/nice lake to bird - various habitat surrounds the lake. Here's a link that might help
http://forum.birdskorea.org/index.php?topic=188.0

Good luck

Thanks for the info. I'm now in Seoul for a few weeks. Paldang sounds good - when do the White-tailed and Steller's Sea Eagles arrive? How reliable is the site for them?

Cheers,
Mike

 

[miketaylor]

Thanks for the info. I'm now in Seoul for a few weeks. Paldang sounds good - when do the White-tailed and Steller's Sea Eagles arrive? How reliable is the site for them?

Cheers,
Mike

Hi,

I've tried registering with the birdskorea forums but had no reply.

I've been in Seoul for 2 weeks now and hoping to do some birding this weekend.

Would anyone be able to help with the following:
1. When do passerine migrants start appearing in the autumn?
2. When do the wintering ducks (and eagles) start to appear on the Han River?
3. Is it feasible to see shorebirds close to Seoul (e.g. from sites accessible on the subway)?
4. Where is the closest place to Seoul where you can see Baikal Teal (and when)?
5. Ditto for Black-faced Spoonbill and the rare gulls?

Any help will be appreciated.

Mike

 

[Xenospiza]

For 5, Ganghwado would be the place.
To quote myself:
This island is the place to be for the 'Korean Sea endemics'. It can be reached from Seoul via the tiny Sinchon bus terminal [on Subway line 2], which is easily overseen. A ticket has to be bought from a machine (Korean only), which only accepted W1000 bills (a street vendor was kind enough to provide change). The best area to stay on Ganghwado is the south coast, which has all avian attractions. However, I saw mostly 'minbak' (room in a private house) accommodation here, so if you want a hotel, Ganghwa(-si) or Oepo-ri are better options (I stayed in the latter. There seem to be only fish restaurants here – the food from stores was quite basic). The bus ride from Seoul to Oepo-ri took two hours.
Going to Oepo-ri is unnecessary. If you could manage to arrange a taxi from the main bus terminal on Ganghwado Island (I guess this is in Ganghwa-si), you could do it more quickly than I did. There should also be buses to the south coast... you'll need helpful Koreans (who I often met).

 

[miketaylor]

Hi all,

Further to my earlier message, visited the Han River at Oksu in Seoul today - there seemed to be very few birds at all: Grey Herons, Great White Egret, Spot-billed Duck, Mallard, Cormorant (presumably Great, i.e. carbo rather than Temminck's?), Black-tailed Gull, and one Herring Gull-type (presumably Mongolian Gull?). I've read that this area gets better in winter, with wintering ducks and gulls - when do they start to arrive?

The park at the confluence of the two rivers seemed to be devoid of birds (and heaving with people) - is this normal??

Regards,
Mike

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

If they call it a park and it's in the Seoul area, it will be heaving with people on the weekends. Especially if it's the kind of a park with hiking trails, climbing routes to a peak, etc.

And regarding Uiwang, I've birded there a few times. It's a good place as Korea goes because it's not an organized park. It's mostly a small residential and farming area on the shores of the lake.

My experienece is that Korea is a fairly un-birdy place, even in places where there aren't a lot of people. I'm not sure why that is.

 

[Strandman]

Hi,

I've tried registering with the birdskorea forums but had no reply.

I've been in Seoul for 2 weeks now and hoping to do some birding this weekend.

Would anyone be able to help with the following:
1. When do passerine migrants start appearing in the autumn?
2. When do the wintering ducks (and eagles) start to appear on the Han River?
3. Is it feasible to see shorebirds close to Seoul (e.g. from sites accessible on the subway)?
4. Where is the closest place to Seoul where you can see Baikal Teal (and when)?
5. Ditto for Black-faced Spoonbill and the rare gulls?

Any help will be appreciated.

Mike

it's worth a look in the archive section of Birds Korea site for a feel for dates, rather than the forums, which can be rather quiet: September narrative is here for example

http://www.birdskorea.org/Birds/Birdnews/BK-BN-birdnews-2009-09.shtml

September is bit early for ducks, geese, eagles based on my second-hand knowledge- big arrival of Baikal Teal is mid-October, geese (including Swan Geese) on the Han River in November

 

[miketaylor]

Thanks - that's very useful.

Mike

 

[miketaylor]

Further to the above, I visited Uiwang yesterday - much more interesting for birds than the places I'd been to so far, but still seemed quiet compared to similar places in the UK.

Some nice Green Sandpipers and Eurasian Teal at close range in the streams at the north end. A group of Bean Geese + 1 Whitefront - quite distant, so couldn't work out which type of Bean - are they most likely to be Tundra.

On the main lake, quite a few Wigeon, some male Pochard, 1 Gadwall, plus the usual Spot-billed Ducks.

I saw a flyover Yellow Wagtail that I reckon would be Eastern YW - it had a call more akin to Tree Pipit that Yellow Wags in the UK. And a Hobby was hawking over the fields by the reservoir.

Mike

 

[subhojit.chakz]

Further to the above, I visited Uiwang yesterday - much more interesting for birds than the places I'd been to so far, but still seemed quiet compared to similar places in the UK.

Some nice Green Sandpipers and Eurasian Teal at close range in the streams at the north end. A group of Bean Geese + 1 Whitefront - quite distant, so couldn't work out which type of Bean - are they most likely to be Tundra.

On the main lake, quite a few Wigeon, some male Pochard, 1 Gadwall, plus the usual Spot-billed Ducks.

I saw a flyover Yellow Wagtail that I reckon would be Eastern YW - it had a call more akin to Tree Pipit that Yellow Wags in the UK. And a Hobby was hawking over the fields by the reservoir.

Mike

Hi Mike

Just in case you're still around, here are a few places around Seoul I visit quite regularly for birds.
1. Uiwang is nearest birding spot ... I went there on Sunday ... plenty of Buntings have arrived since my last visit ... mostly black-faced buntings in the reed beds around the rice fields. Bean Geese have also started to arrive. Also there are a few warblers around. The nearby wooded areas support among other birds, atleast 3 species of woodpeckers. Other than that its mostly commonly occuring ones.
2. Dongmak lagoon has the best place to see black-faced spoonbills. The artificial island in the center of the lagoon outside the subway station of the same name supports quite a few of them. On the nearby mud-flats you can see Saunder's gulls and Chinese Egrets.
3. Paldang is good for Steller's Sea Eagle but I haven't had much luck there. I spotted a Steller's on the Han river (flying over one of the bridges)
4. If you're still around, you can try out Ansan Reed park and Shiwha lake. Ansan is good for passerines, harriers and buzzards. Shiwha and its surrounding areas have tidal flats supporting a few species of waders (Its just across the bay from Dongmak)

cheers and happy birding
Subho

 

[miketaylor]

Hi Subho,

Thanks very much for the reply, and the suggestions.

I visited Paldang on Saturday, but didn't see much apart from various duck species. On Sunday I visited Dongmak lagoon and caught up with black-faced spoonbills (and black-faced buntings!), plus Temminck's Stint, Marsh Sandpiper, Greenshank etc.

I've seen Yellow-browed Warbler in the wood near my hotel, but no other warblers.

I'm around until 19th November, so I'm planning to go back to Uiwang - hoping for Baikal Teal, and I'll also go back to Paldang and the Han River.

Please let me know if any of the specialities turn up by then - e.g. Steller's Sea Eagle!!

Thanks,
Mike

 

[subhojit.chakz]

Hi Mike

Good to hear that you found BFS in Dongmak ... its one of the most reliable places to see it I went to Uiwang today morning ... nothing out of ordinary. The rice fields are being harvested, so there is a lot of disturbance. Its difficult to spot Baikal Teals inland. The best spot is Seosan (Ganwol-do in Cheonsu bay area) but it takes a bit of time to reach there. Technically the teals should be there by now but I haven't had the time to go there this season so far. And unfortunately there is no recent report about that region in Birds Korea blog as well.
Regarding the Steller's, I think its still too early! If you're ready to move a bit further afield from Seoul, places like Seosan and Cheorwon (near the DMZ and famous for cranes) can be very rewarding. But again, I doubt if the cranes (especially the red crowned) will have arrived so soon.

cheers
Subho

 

[miketaylor]

Hi Subho,

I'm planning to do some birding this weekend in the Seoul area - any recommendations for picking up new species that may not have been around a few weeks ago?

I'll probably go to Uiwang, and also look at the Han River at Oksu, for wildfowl, but it would be good to find some passerines as well.

Cheers,
Mike