Tag Archives: breeding

Dr Nial Moores, Birds Korea

Based on information made available to Birds Korea, approximately 167 species of bird had been confirmed as breeding at least once in the ROK by 2015, with an additional 13 or so species suspected of breeding. Since 1950, probably 9-19 of these species have colonised the ROK as breeders and 5-8 have been extirpated as breeding species, with several additional species also likely extirpated as breeders in the past two centuries. Notably, almost all of the more recent breeding colonists are generalists; are tolerant of disturbed habitats; are common or abundant within the core of their range; and / or have the core of their breeding range to the south and east of Korea (i.e. in southern China and Japan). Most are found in two main habitat types: forest edge and degraded agricultural land; or floodplain wetland and coastal marsh as often created during the reclamation process. Climate change (with hotter summers and milder winters regionally) and habitat change (especially temporary creation of floodplain type wetland in the ROK as part of the reclamation process) therefore appear to be two main factors contributing to their colonisation. Extirpated breeding species by contrast tend to be large-bodied, globally rare or threatened, and specialised; and / or appear to be especially vulnerable to agricultural intensification and urbanisation.

 

Last month, Birds Korea received a request for information on bird species that have either colonised, have been introduced to or have been extirpated from the ROK since 1815 as part of a much larger project looking at changes in bird distribution in different countries. This research is being coordinated by researchers in the UK.

The request included clear definitions and time-frames. For example, to be considered introduced a species needs to have bred continuously, with at least ten pairs breeding for ten years or more in a non-captive state. Colonists likewise are defined as species that were first recorded breeding in the last 70 years, since 1945; with at least ten pairs breeding continuously for a decade or more, with their arrival not a result of introduction. Extirpated species are those that had bred continuously (at least 10 pairs for a period of 10 years or greater) in a wild state but which no longer breed in a wild state (with no confirmed breeding records for the last decade).

The lead researcher shared the short-list that they already had developed for the ROK. It included one introduced (Feral Rock Dove) and four extirpated species: Black Stork, Oriental Stork, Golden Eagle and Asian (now Amur) Paradise Flycatcher – the last of which was probably not a regular breeder in the ROK, at least since the 1880s. They asked for our help in amending or revising this list.

Although popular blog-posts tend to be those with lots of images and little text, I would like to share my detailed response to the request here and to add some additional commentary in the hope that best information can be shared.  Of course, understanding large-scale changes in bird distribution is essential if appropriate conservation strategies are to be developed; and to date there has been very little formal sharing of information on changes in distribution within this region. So if you want to contribute, please mail me directly or post your comments: thanks.

First, based on the information I have, there is indeed still only one introduced species in the ROK (i.e. with more than ten pairs breeding in a wild state for the past decade): Feral Rock Dove.  Are there any others?

This single introduced species compares with no less than 43 introduced species that were already listed breeding wild in neighbouring Japan a decade ago (Eguchi & Amano 2004).  Incidentally, five of these 43 have been recorded in the wild here in the ROK: Common Pheasant, “Korean Magpie”, Light-vented Bulbul (a recent colonist here), Crested Myna (first recorded in the ROK this spring) and Scaly-breasted Munia.

In addition, there are probably 30 species, all listed below, that have either naturally colonised the ROK since 1950 or have been extirpated as breeding species, with rather more colonists than extirpated species.  This seems quite remarkable, especially because for many bird species to colonise the ROK they effectively need to expand their range by several hundred kilometres in one jump by crossing one of three seas unless they spread southward from the DPRK (as yet, perhaps suggested only for Eurasian Hobby).

When assessing apparent changes in recorded bird distribution in Korea over long time-frames it first seems essential to consider the following (all addressed in Moores 2012):

1. The geography of the Korean Peninsula. Korea lies between Japan, China and Russia. It is surrounded on three sides by sea. The far north of Korea contains the Baekdu Massif , a high mountain range that forms the southern limit of several Taiga-dependent bird species. Cold temperate forest gradually yields to broad-leaved evergreen forest in the far south, sharing many bird species with southwestern Japan. Most of the peninsula is mountainous and historically was forested, with many hundreds of historically forested islands, seasonally shallow rivers and few natural permanent freshwater bodies. Most of the floodplain areas are densely populated and have long been heavily modified by human activities.

2. Likely migration routes. Research suggests that there is a major southern migration corridor across the south of the ROK (Yangtze > southern coastal zone > Japan); and a northern corridor with routes from the Chinese east coast through Ongjin County (including Baekryeong and Socheong in the ROK) and Hwanghaenam Province in the DPRK, north to e.g. the Amur Basin; as well as from Shandong to Liaoning (China); and across the Bohai Sea. Migratory bird species that are expanding their range in eastern China to breed in north-eastern China might be expected to use one or more of these northern routes across the Yellow Sea during migration (e.g. Light-vented Bulbul and Yellow-bellied Tit).

 

Two main migration corridors across the Yellow Sea into Korea and beyond. From Moores (2012)

3. The climate of the Korean Peninsula. Due to the large difference between winter and summer temperatures, >90% of the 560-570 bird species so far recorded in Korea are migratory. Of the estimated total 180 breeding bird species in the ROK (proven or suspected to have bred at least once by the end of 2015), only 33 (18%) are largely sedentary. There is also strong evidence of the climate warming in much of this region at a faster rate than the global average.

4. The history of war and division on the Korean Peninsula and their effects on the ornithological record and on the interpretation of records. There is at present almost no information exchange on birds between the ROK and the DPRK, and for decades access-restrictions have been in force in many areas. Many areas in the DPRK have apparently not been surveyed for more than 50 years (if ever); and even many areas in the ROK have either still not been surveyed or were first surveyed only in the 1990s or 2000s.

5. The first “modern” ornithological review covering Korea was Austin (1948). This review covered the whole peninsula but excluded Jeju and Ulleung and organised records by province. It contained multiple biases and inaccuracies and regretably has distorted modern understanding of many species’ status and distribution (Duckworth & Moores 2008).

6. The second ornithological review (Gore & Won 1971) covered the ROK only. It was published in Korean and English and borrowed much from Austin (1948). Although it advanced understanding greatly, it aimed to be more popular and descriptive.  It inadvertently confirmed that there had been little ornithological activity in the ROK between 1950 and 1970. It was written when there were still almost no paved roads in the whole country and access to the coast, islands, and to high mountain areas was highly restricted or was simply too difficult. Two examples of the problem of trusting fully to this source for a historical perspective should suffice.  At that time there were still only five records (all specimens) of Great Knot, and just one record (again a specimen) of Dusky Warbler.

7. The third major ornithological review for use in the ROK is Park (2002). This doctoral thesis was written after and during a period of greatly increased ornithological activity in the ROK, with the first modern surveys of seabird breeding islands and of shorebirds in the 1980s; and of higher mountain ranges like Seorak in the 1990s and early 2000s. Written in Korean, Park (2002) lists almost all known/ published sight records and remaining specimens in the ROK organised by province.  His research coincided with the publication of the only major English-language review of birds in the DPRK (Tomek 1999, 2002), which incorporated older information from Austin (1948); and also from the three volume monograph of Korean birds by Won Hong-Koo (1963-1965) as well as visiting ornithologists. Tomek (1999, 2000) also reviewed both specimen and sight records and organised these by province.

8. Both Park (2002) and Tomek (1999, 2002) are invaluable resources and are used as the basis for many of the records before 2000 (as below). Nonetheless, for similar reasons both could easily be misinterpreted by researchers. In both the ROK and the DPRK many of the species that were recorded for the first time or which were suspected of breeding for the first time in the 1990s and 2000s were quite likely present historically and either had earlier been left unidentified or were largely distributed in inaccessible areas.  Increased access, better optics and better identification literature explains a large part of the rapid increase in newly-recorded species in both the ROK and the DPRK, with e.g. Duckworth (2008) recording seven new species for the DPRK in only a three-year period and identifying one additional species through other research.  In a similar way, as part of research for the Hanns Seidel Foundation, we found probably three new species for the DPRK in only eight or nine days of fieldwork in March 2014 and May 2016. For the same reasons, many species that have been lost to Korea as breeders, even widespread species, were probably never confirmed as breeders. There is therefore a much stronger bias in the ornithological record toward confirmation of increase and colonisation rather than confirmation of extirpation of breeding species.

9. In the ROK, there are many more experienced and skilled birdwatchers now than even at the turn of the century, as evidenced by the remarkable improvement in the quality of field-guides (e.g. when comparing those published in the 1990s with. Park Jong-Gil’s excellent guide published in 2014). However, even migration hotspots like Baekryeong Island still remain very poorly covered.  Moreover, there are still few organised breeding bird surveys nationwide in the ROK and most records that are made public do not include numbers and are still not formally collated to produce national population estimates.

10. And finally, as is strikingly apparent, since 1945 and subsequently there have been massive land-use changes in the ROK especially. Most of the forest that had been cut during the 19th century and earlier has now been replanted; most of the rivers have been dammed, in some areas creating large freshwater reservoirs; and agriculture has intensified enormously, contributing to a suspected >99% decline in Barn Swallow in the past 30 years (see Moores et al. 2014). There has also been massive reclamation of tidal-flats, with 75% of historical tidal-flat destroyed, two-thirds of this in the last 30 years (Moores et al. 2016). This reclamation has driven declines in many species.  The reclamation process, however, has also created large freshwater reservoirs and often temporarily creates extensive areas of shallow coastal wetland, with reed-beds, open areas and islands which can be used – for a few years or even for a couple of decades – by breeding species. This habitat, as at Shihwa, Hwaseong, Seosan and in Haenam, is often temporarily occupied by species that (perhaps) once depended on historical floodplain wetlands and coastal wetlands – habitat largely destroyed before there was any modern ornithological activity.  The temporary value of such areas to wetland birds is undeniable and could be massively enhanced and even be made permanent if biodiversity conservation was properly factored into end-use. For example, there used to be a large colony of Saunders’s Gull on reclaimed land at Yeongjong; this year’s Greater Flamingo was on a reclamation lake, side-by-side with several species of over-summering ducks; and Park (2002) recounts that a survey of Cheonsu Bay in Seosan in 2000 found 62 Von Schrenck’s Bittern Ixobrychus eurhythmus. How many survive there now? One or two pairs?

All ten of the above factors need to be considered when attempting to understand real changes in bird distribution in Korea over long time-frames. They underlie two main assumptions:

1. If a bird species is a genuine colonist in the ROK because of expansion of the breeding range, then the same species will likely also start to be recorded in the DPRK, and perhaps also in other parts of this region.
2. Easy to see and identify species in easily-accessible habitats are less likely to have been overlooked than skulking, hard to identify species distributed in hard to access areas.

 

Colonists

The following nine species appear to be genuinely new breeding species in the ROK since 1945, with populations of >10 pairs (though in several cases it is much less clear whether there have been >10 pairs breeding annually for at least a decade):

• Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus. First breeding confirmed in mid-1990s; now breeds on reclamation lakes in several areas (with 39 nests counted at Shihwa Reclamation area alone by Tim Edelsten in July 2015).
• Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax.  Very rare until 1960s, when first found breeding; now locally common breeder. Very rare in the DPRK until 2000s; first breeding confirmed there in 2010s (KCNA 2015).
• Eastern Cattle Egret Bubulcus coromandus. First national record in 1910s; first breeding confirmed in late 1960s in far southwest; more widespread by 1980s; now locally common breeder. In the DPRK, first national record in 1970s; becoming more widespread in 1980s; first breeding confirmed in 2010s (KCNA 2015) and a day maximum of 35 seen near Pyongyang in our recent survey in May 2016.
• Little Egret Egretta garzetta. First national record in 1940s; first breeding record in 1960s; now thousands of pairs. In the DPRK first national confirmed record 1950s; locally common by 1980s in southwest; breeding confirmed in 2010s (KCNA 2015).
• Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus. Probably started breeding in the ROK in the 1980s (or earlier); now fairly widespread and locally common breeding north to e.g. Baekryeong, Cheorwon and Goseong County. In the DPRK probably started over-summering in 1950s, and breeding locally in the 1980s. Several were seen in suitable breeding habitat near the west coast of the DPRK in May 2016.
• Eurasian Hobby Falco subbuteo. According to Park (2002), the first proven over-summering of the species in the ROK was in Gangwon Province in 1981, with breeding then proven in the 1990s in Seoul. It currently appears to be reasonably widespread in mid-summer in forested areas throughout much of the ROK and it is seems reasonable to assume that >10 pairs breed annually. Although the breeding of several raptor species was overlooked by Austin (1948),  neither Wolfe (1950), nor Fennell (1952) nor MacFarlane (1963) writing of their observations from near the Korean inner border in the late 1940s and early 1950s even mention seeing the species. In the DPRK, the first records in June or July listed in Tomek (1999) were from the early 1960s in the northeast. By the late 1990s it was considered by her to be a “not very rare breeding species” there.
• Light-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis First national record in early-2000s; first breeding record in mid-2000s; rapidly increasing, and now a common breeder on 5-10 islands and probably several areas on mainland, with perhaps as many as 50 pairs on Baekryeong Island alone (it is not known when the species first colonised that island). In the DPRK, first national record was probably in 2016. The species is increasing rapidly and also spreading north in Eastern China.
• Far Eastern Cisticola Cisticola (juncidis) brunniceps. First national record appears to be of two or three found near the Imjin river north of Seoul in the inner border area in October 1954 (MacFarlane 1962). Breeding first confirmed on Jeju Island (far southwest) in 1980s; and on mainland in 1990s (but perhaps occurred earlier and was overlooked?). Now widespread, especially along south and west coasts, including in Incheon. Spreading north in Eastern China, and is now found e.g. in Beijing, but there are perhaps still no records in the DPRK?
• Red-billed Starling Spodiopsar sericeus. First national record in 2000; first breeding record in mid-2000s. Now a local breeder in several areas (see Choi et al. 2011). In the DPRK, first record in early 2000s (Duckworth 2004); and as we saw the species both in Rason in the far northeast in March 2014 (Anon 2014) and on the west coast in May 2016, the species is now presumably rather widespread in the DPRK.

The following 10 species might also be recent colonists, but perhaps do not fully meet the definition in some way (e.g. because there might be fewer than ten pairs);

• Mallard Anas platyrhynchos. Over-summering increasingly recorded in 1990s; first breeding in the ROK confirmed in last decade or so; number of pairs?  Origin of first breeding birds unclear (mix of feral and wild birds possible though now pure pairs breed in small numbers).
• Common Merganser Mergus mergus. First breeding confirmed in late 1990s / early 2000s.  Number of pairs?  River conversion to reservoirs has apparently benefitted the species.
• Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola bacchus. First national records in 1980s; first bred in 2000s.  Number of pairs?  In DPRK, first national record in 1960s; very few records; breeding seems possible according to Tomek (1999).
• Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo. First (modern) breeding in the ROK perhaps confirmed in early 2000s (?); breeding population growth subsequently very rapid and now perhaps hundreds of pairs. Earlier status unclear because of identification issues (especially confusion with Temminck’s Cormorant).   In DPRK, at turn of 20^th century apparently bred very commonly along the Anmok and Tumen Rivers in the northern border region; then declined or was even extirpated.
• Ruddy-breasted Crake Porzana fusca. First breeding record in the ROK was in the 1960s. Currently very localised and probably declining. Easy to overlook. First summer record in the DPRK was in late 1950s; now suspected to be a very local breeder there (Tomek 1999).
• Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus. First breeding confirmed in the ROK in the late 1990s; now breeds (or has bred?) in two or more areas; number of pairs fluctuates (some years >10 pairs; other years <10 pairs?); also increasingly recorded as a passage migrant. In the DPRK first recorded 1970s; second record 1980s; perhaps now breeding, with 11+ recorded in one day of survey in a reclamation lagoon in Onchon County in May 2016.
• Greater Painted-snipe Rostratula benghalensis. First breeding was confirmed in early 2000s; currently very local breeder, easily overlooked. Very probably >10 pairs, but perhaps no coordinated surveys have yet been attempted.
• Pheasant-tailed Jacana Hydrophasianus chirurgus. First national record in 1993; first breeding in early 2000s; breeding confirmed at three or more sites in 2007; now breeding at probably 5-10 sites, with perhaps >10 pairs annually for past 3-5 years (?).
• Common Redshank Tringa tetanus. First breeding documented in the early 2000s; still very localised breeder in recently reclaimed areas.  Currently >10 pairs every year? In the DPRK, only one breeding-season record in 1950s; date questioned by Tomek (1999), however breeding (1-2 pairs +) likely in one reclaimed area in Onchon County visited in 2016.
• Chinese Blackbird Turdus mandarinus. First national and first breeding record in late 1990s; sporadic breeder but perhaps 10 pairs nationally (?), as shy and nests in or close to forest. First record in the DPRK in 2000; first records in Japan in 1980s and first breeding record there in the 1990s.

The first breeding records of the following four species with populations of >10 pairs were recorded post-Austin (1948).   However, like several high mountain-breeding species found first breeding in the ROK in the past 20 years (e.g. Siberian Rubythroat Calliope calliope, Dusky Phylloscopus fuscatus and Radde’s Warblers P. schwarzi, Pallas’s  P. proregulus and Two-barred Warblers  P. plumbeitarsus, and Tristram’s Bunting Emberiza tristrami) it seems plausible that they too might have been breeding substantially earlier than 1950:

• Mongolian Gull Larus mongolicus.  First breeding in the ROK confirmed only in 1990s; however, several colonies exist; and breeding seems likely from earlier in 20^th century at least. It also breeds in the DPRK (Chong et al. 1996) and has probably done so for a century at least (accounting for summer records of “Vega Herring Gull” from 1917 in Austin 1948).
• Saunders’s Gull Chroicocephalus saundersi.  First breeding in the ROK was confirmed only in late 1990s next to a reclamation lagoon (Moores 1999); several colonies were subsequently found in reclaimed areas (>100 pairs) but the species now appears to be declining rapidly and seems likely to be extirpated once preferred reclamation areas are further modified. Few early ornithologists were interested in gulls; and based on what we know now of this opportunistic species, it historically likely would have bred in suitable saltmarsh habitat.
• Crested Murrelet Synthliboramphus wumizusume. First breeding confirmed only in 1980s; now several hundred pairs are estimated to be breeding in remote colonies. According to Austin (1948) the type specimen might have come from Korea; and two males were collected in Gyeongsangnam on 20^th April 1884 – a time when birds might be expected to be close to breeding islands.  Brazil 1991 states that in Japan the species “nests from February to May, peaking in April”.
• Japanese Wagtail Motacilla grandis.  Although locally common in the ROK, it was described as a straggler in Korea with only two records by Austin (1948). The first national breeding record was in 1966, and it was by then considered a scarce but regular winter visitor by Gore & Won (1971). However, this species is not known to be strongly migratory, with perhaps only single records in the past decade from offshore islands like Socheong and Eocheong and only five records traced for the DPRK, all in 1980 in northern Gangwon Province. Was this species breeding in Korea all along, in past decades simply overlooked among what used to be a very large breeding population of White Wagtail M. alba?

 

Extirpated Breeding Species

The following five species have likely been extirpated as regular breeding species since 1970 and earlier are considered to have had >10 breeding pairs annually in the ROK:

• Oriental Stork Ciconia boyciana. Historically an uncommon widespread breeder (though still called locally “abundant” by Prentice 1952); with the last breeding record in 1970s or 1980s. A restoration scheme is now ongoing.
• Tristram’s (White-bellied) Woodpecker Dryocopus javensis richardsi . A distinctive taxon, probably deserving recognition as a full species, extirpated in the 1980s. A few pairs are presumed to remain in the DPRK.
• Eurasian Skylark Alauda arvensis lonnbergi. Until the late 1990s, both Eurasian Skylark and Far Eastern Skylark A. japonica nested in the ROK. Currently, Far Eastern Skylark seems to be a scarce and declining breeder, largely confined to breeding in reclamation areas and there seems to be no confirmation of breeding Eurasian Skylark for >10 years. In the DPRK, both Far Eastern and Eurasian Skylark persist and are sympatric breeders at least in the far northeast (pers. obs) as in Far Eastern Russia, a possibility that exasperated Austin (1948) who commented that some authors “even claim two distinct subspecies breeding in the same area!”
• Crested Lark Galerida cristata. Formerly widespread and common as a breeder, until the 1960s or 1970s; rare by the 1980s; one or two pairs again found breeding in the early 2000s; now considered extirpated in the ROK (at least as a regular breeding species).
• Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus. Was an abundant breeder through until the 1960s; now perhaps extirpated.  At least, the popularly-known breeding population appears to be <10 pairs.

The following seven species either (a) became extirpated before 1950; or (b) now very rarely breed and perhaps never had >10 breeding pairs in the ROK:

• Japanese Quail Coturnix japonica. Apparently once a regular and locally common breeder as Austin (1948) notes that Kuroda wrote in 1928 that “we often find young birds, unable to fly, with soft yellow bills…in the brush near Seoul from the last of August”.  It was considered a migrant and winter visitor by the time of Gore & Won (1971). There have been only one or two breeding records in the past 15 years
• Black Stork Ciconia nigra. Both Austin (1948) and Gore & Won (1971) seem to suggest that perhaps one or two pairs nested in one remote location in Andong for several hundred years (!), last being photographed at the nest in the mid-1960s.  Were there ever >10 nesting pairs?
• Steller’s Sea Eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus. The species is currently considered to be a winter visitor.  However, the account in Austin (1948) suggests that the form “niger” used to breed in Korea (and perhaps only in Korea) and that the taking of young eagles was not especially rare, with a total of about 26 specimens of “niger’ that he was aware of between the 1880s and 1920s. This suggests that the species was likely to have been a regular breeder. The account leaves it unclear as to whether birds were only taken in present-day DPRK or whether some were also taken in the ROK.
• Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos. Although Austin (1948) only traced records from the winter months, this species certainly used to nest in the ROK.  Wolfe (1950) describes three different nests apparently within 50km of Seoul, while writing that the species’ “normal habitat is the wilder mountain districts” (i.e. much of the ROK part of the Baekdu-Daegan at that time: a twisting mountainous spine, with a crest line of >700km).   Prentice (1952) wrote that he often saw Golden Eagles in the 1951-1952 winter in Chuncheon, in southern Gangwon Province.  When was the last ROK mainland breeding record? Is there any strong evidence that there were ever >10 breeding pairs?
• Grey-faced Buzzard Butastur indicus. Wolfe (1950) wrote, “This hawk has not been recorded previously as a breeding species in Korea, but it cannot be considered rare in Kyonggi Do Province as three different breeding pairs were found in 1948”. That a single observer could by himself find three nests close to Seoul suggests that >10 breeding pairs were likely nesting in the ROK at that time.  It was considered a scarce summer visitor by Gore & Won (1971), perhaps with no contemporary breeding records (?); and has recently been found nesting again in the ROK, though still in very small numbers.
• Yellow-legged Buttonquail Turnix tanki.  Extremely secretive and easy to overlook. Probably was a regular breeder. Perhaps no or certainly very few records, even of migrants, for several years.
• Ashy Minivet Pericrocotus divaricatus. Was a very local breeding species at least in / the until late 1990s.  Number of pairs not known at that time, but based on other regions was probably locally common. One or two pairs were rediscovered in 2015.
• Beijing Babbler Rhopophilus pekinensis. Very few ROK records, but most of these were in summer and suggest it was a local breeder in central Korea. No record in the ROK since the 1960s.

 

Your comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated!

 

Key References

 

• Austin, O. L., Jr 1948. The birds of Korea. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University 101: 1-301.
• Brazil, M. 1991. The Birds of Japan. Published by Helm.
• Choi C-Y., Park J-G., Moores, N., Kim E-M., Kang C-W., Nam H-Y. &  Kim S-M. 2011. The recent increase of the Red-billed Starling Sturnus sericeus in the Republic of Korea. Forktail 27: 84-86.
• Chong J-R., Pak U-I., Rim C-Y. & Kim T-S. 1996. Breeding biology of Black-faced Spoonbill. Strix 14, 1-10 (In English).
• Duckworth, J.W. 2004. Eight birds new to DPR Korea. Forktail 116-120.
• Duckworth, J. W. & N. Moores. 2008. A re-evaluation of the pre-1948 Korean breeding avifauna: correcting a ‘founder-effect’ in perceptions. Forktail 24: 25-27.
• Eguchi K. & Amano H. 2004. Invasive Birds in Japan. Global Environmental Research 8 (1): 29-39. Printed in Japan.
• Fennell, C. M. 1952. Some observations on the birds of southern Korea. Condor 54: 101-110.
• KCNA. 2015. Oriental Birds from South Nest in DPRK. Press release, Pyongyang, June 1^st 2015.
• MacFarlane, A. 1962. Field Notes on the Birds of Korea. Ibis 105: 319-326.
• Moores, N. 1999. Saunders’s Gull colony in South Korea: first nesting record outside of the People’s Republic of China. OBC Bull 28, Nov 1999: 43-49.
• Moores, N. 2012. The Distribution, Abundance and Conservation of the Avian Biodiversity of Yellow Sea habitats in the Republic of Korea. Doctoral thesis, University of Newcastle, Australia.
• Moores, N., Kim, A. & R. Kim. 2014. Status of Birds, 2014. Birds Korea report on Bird Population Trends and Conservation Status in the Republic of Korea. Published by Birds Korea, September 2014.
• Moores, N., Rogers, D.I., Rogers, K. and Hansbro, P.M. 2016. Reclamation of tidal flats and shorebird declines in Saemangeum and elsewhere in the Republic of Korea. Emu, 116, 2: 136-146. Published by CSIRO. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/MU16006
• Park J-G. 2014. Identification guide to birds of Korea. Checklist of Organisms of Korea 12. (in Korean).
• Park, J-Y. 2002. Current status and distribution of birds in Korea. Department of Biology, Kyung Hee University, Seoul (unpublished thesis, in Korean).
• Prentice D. 1952. Bird Observations in Korea. The Passenger Pigeon. Volume 14.4. 137-141.
• Tomek, T. 1999-2002. The birds of North Korea. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia 42: 1-217; 45: 1-235 (in English).
• Wolfe, L. R. 1950. Notes on the birds of Korea. Auk 67: 433-455.