Monthly Archives: January 2019

Bird News from Nial Moores, on own on 3rd, and from January 4th-14th with the very good-humored Team Zoothera (Nick Upton, Lee Collins, Stephen Davis, Jeff Higgott, Simon Roddis, Peter Zelenyj, David Cousins, John and Pauline Arkle and Nick Blackwood).

The tour – helping to raise funds for our conservation work – produced some excellent winter birding with multiple daily highlights in generally very good weather (with clear, calm chilly conditions for most of the first week, though windy along the east coast; followed by a milder mix of overcast and hazy sunshine from the 12th, with fog on 14^th gradually lifting during the day).

Although several typical or widespread wintering species appeared to be scarce or absent this year (e.g. zero Black Kite, despite spending time in Busan, and zero Eurasian Siskin were logged), we nonetheless enjoyed excellent views of almost all of the Far East Asian and Palearctic specials we were hoping to see: Swan Goose, Baikal Teal, Harlequin Duck, Scaly-sided Merganser, Hazel Grouse, Oriental Stork, Steller’s Sea Eagle, Red-crowned Crane, White-naped Crane, Hooded Crane, Solitary Snipe, Saunders’s Gull, Long-billed Murrelet, Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Naumann’s and Dusky Thrushes, Japanese Wagtail, Asian Rosy Finch, and Pallas’s Reed and Ochre-rumped Buntings, with decent views too of additional most-wanted species that included Relict Gull, Chinese Grey Shrike, Yellow-bellied Tit and Siberian Accentor.

We also had plenty of time to enjoy flocks of gulls and geese and alcids – and to marvel at a massive gathering of 10,000+ Rook, which contained much smaller numbers of Daurian Jackdaw. We also logged seven naturally occurring wild mammal species, including enjoying wonderfully close and exciting encounters with Amur Leopard Cat (at two sites) and Korean Water Deer, and seasonally less expected River Otter, Siberian Weasel and Siberian Chipmunk.

Fuller bird species lists can/ will be found on eBird; and in the formal Zoothera Trip report (which will likely include many much higher quality images too!). Only especially noteworthy records follow (due to global rarity, unseasonal occurrence or very high numbers):

• Swan Goose Anser cygnoides. VU. Seven at Junam on 11^th; and four in the Geum estuary on 13th

• Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea.  Red-listed in the ROK in 2014 after substantial recent declines. At least 600 at Siheung on 6^th was the highest count.
• Baikal Teal Sibirionetta formosa.  Currently globally assessed as Least Concern and Amber-Listed in the ROK by Birds Korea in 2014, but now better assessed as threatened following massive very recent declines. In addition to small numbers at a couple of sites, the largest count was approximately 19,000 on the Geum River on 14^th.

• Ferruginous Pochard Aythya nyroca. NT.  Although increasing year-on-year, still less than 10 records annually in the ROK. Two were found and reported by Marshall Ilff on eBird near the Bamseom Islet on the Han River on December 28^th (https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51011155).  The same two birds were still present on the 3^rd. Although one looked pure to me, the second bird looked a little bigger-headed and yellower-eyed, and had an obvious paler wash on the foreflank – features suggestive of a hybrid origin.
• Scaly-sided Merganser Mergus squamatus. EN.  Five or six were at Paldang on 6^th. Approximately 150 were counted during Birds Korea surveys in 2012 and 2014. Funds have been insufficient since then to repeat a national survey.  
• Yellow-billed Loon Gavia adamsii. NT. One was seen well by SR and poorly by NM on 8^th and by NM at range on 9^th along the Goseong Coast.
• Oriental Stork Ciconia boyciana. EN. One “restored” bird was seen at close range in the Namdaecheon, Gangneung on 9^th (at one time, scarily trying to eat a discarded can of “Pocari sweat”, a popular so-called sports drink); and four unringed birds were at Junam on 11^th.

• Eastern Marsh Harrier Circus spilonotus. Two different individuals were in the Nakdong Estuary on 11^th and 12^th.
• Steller’s Sea Eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus. VU. One or two adults were at Paldang on 6^th (with one also seen from the main bridge over the river on 7^th) and one or two adults were also seen in the Nakdong Estuary on the 11^th.
• Sandhill Crane Antigone canadensis. Five were together with Hooded Cranes at Suncheon Bay on 12^th.

• White-naped Crane Antigone vipio. VU. At least 650-750 were in Cheorwon on the 5^th (including several hundred in the Great Flypast), with another 250-260 at Junam on the 11^th.
• Red-crowed Crane Grus japonensis. EN. At least 150 in Cheorwon on the 5^th, most of which were in the Great Flypast, with smaller numbers feeding in rice-fields.
• Common Crane Grus grus. A hybrid Hooded x Common was in Cheorwon on the 5^th; and three “pure” adult Commons were in among a large flock of Hooded Crane at Suncheon Bay on 12^th, along with dozens of First, Second and presumably Third Generation hybrids.

• Hooded Crane Grus monacha. VU. Two were in Cheorwon on the 5^th; one was must unexpected at Siheung on 6^th; and 1,700 were counted (in blocks of ten) at Suncheon Bay on 12^th. This total, however, contained potentially several dozen hybrid Hooded x Common Cranes of several generations.

• Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa. NT. Exceptional in winter. One, of unknown taxon, was still at Junam on 11^th.
• Solitary Snipe Gallinago solitaria. Despite continuing degradation along the stream both within and outside of the National Arboretum, three were found after some searching.

• Saunders’s Gull Chroicocephalus saundersi. VU. Seen at multiple sites, with easily the highest count 535 at Song Do on the 6^th.
• Relict Gull Ichthyaetus relictus. VU. One First-winter was watched at length (and sadly at some distance) in the Nakdong Estuary on the 11^th.
• Glaucous-winged Gull Larus glaucescens. A Second Calendar-year at Sokcho on 7^th was either an exceptionally dark individual or (to my eyes much more plausibly) a hybrid; while a full adult at Geojin on 8^th was rather less controversial!

• American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus. One Second Calendar-year at Geojin on 8^th.
• Steppe Gull Larus heuglini barabensis. One or two candidate Steppe Gulls were at Daejin on 8^th; and three more were at Seosan on 14^th.

• Thick-billed Murre Uria lomvia. Only one was seen – a non-breeding plumaged bird at very long range by NM on 9^th.
• Spectacled Guillemot Cephhus carbo. In large part probably because of increasingly high seas on 8^th only one was seen (by NM, SR and perhaps one or two others in the group).
• Long-billed Murrelet Brachyramphus perdix. NT. One was seen well, if rather briefly, from the boat off the Goseong Coast on the 8^th.
• Ancient Murrelet Synthliboramphus antiquus.  At least 3,500-4,000 were seen from the boat on the 8^th; smaller numbers were seen along the coast south to Ayajin on 9^th.
• Rhinoceros Auklet Cerorhinca monocerata. At least 1,500 were seen off the Goseong Coast on 8^th.
• “Arctic” Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus calidus (?). A Second Calendar-year bird at Suncheon on 12^th looked more massively-billed and subtly paler below, with a narrower “moustache” than the much more regular japonensis (seen on several dates) – features expected in calidus which, based on satellite tracks of some birds from the Arctic to eastern China (see Dixon et al. 2012) is likely to prove regular in Korea during migration and winter.

• Dusky Warbler Phylloscopus fuscatus. Singles were heard at the Geum River on the 13^th and at Seosan on the 14^th.
• White Wagtail Motacilla alba ocularis. Assessed as very rare in winter by Birds Korea (2018). Two were at Yangyang on 8^th, with another at Junam on 11^th.
• Asian Rosy Finch Leucosticte arctoa. Only 80 at the regular wintering site – no doubt because most of the best habitat has been plowed and now looks quite sterile.

• Pallas’s Reed Bunting / “Mongolian Reed Bunting” Emberiza pallasi lydiae.  In addition to small numbers of pallasi / polaris, at least one male at Seosan on 14^th appeared to show features expected in lydiae, including a long sloping forehead and bill (narrow with a fairly strongly curved culmen, quite unlike the typical stubby bill of pallasi/ polaris, visible in the middle lower record shot); and a largely straw-brown and black “saddle”, lacking the pale braces shown by almost all Pallas’s Reed Bunting in Korea.

• Ochre-rumped Bunting Emberiza yessoensis. NT. Two were at Siheung on 6^th.