Bird News from Spike Millington and Eugene Cheah
Nine staff from the EAAFP Secretariat Office took a day off school, meeting up with Cho Heungsang from Seosan Birdland, to visit Cheonsu Bay on 3 April, hoping to see Hooded Cranes before they left on their northward migration. We were lucky to see about 180 Hooded Cranes, many giving excellent close views in the agricultural fields. Most of the geese had already left though: we only saw 200 Greater White-fronted Geese. Plenty of ducks still, mainly dabbling ducks and dominated by Mallard, with at least 500 birds. A group of 20 Common Mergansers were “offshore” and at least 100 Great Crested Grebes were scattered across the bay. Four Garganey rested in the lee of a reed island. Some sandy pools hosted 8 spoonbills, among the many Grey Herons (100) and smaller numbers of Great and Little Egrets. At first the spoonbills all looked to be Eurasian Spoonbills, but a sleeping bird later revealed itself to be a Black-faced Spoonbill. Among the 20 or so Little Ringed Plovers were a Common Redshank, a Spotted Redshank and a solitary Dunlin. In the Bay, the resting waders included 200 Dunlin, 100 Eastern Curlews, a few Eurasian Curlews, 30 Bar-tailed Godwits, 20 Grey Plovers and 5 Great Knots. Several Eastern Oystercatchers and one Common Snipe completed the shorebird count. Black-headed Gulls were very conspicuous, with hundreds present, many in breeding plumage. All photos were taken by Eugene Cheah.
