South Korea species list 20/04/2014 - 07/05/2014 (with added media from Stuart and Grant Fisher)

Little Grebe (Daejeon)

Great/Japanese Cormorant

Grey Heron

Great Egret

Little Egret

Eastern Cattle Egret (1 in Deajeon)

Pacific Reef Egret (Busan)

Chinese Pond Heron (1 in Busan)

Striated Heron (Daejeon)

Black-crowned Night Heron (Daejeon)

Black-faced Spoonbill (Gunsan)

Common Shelduck (600+ Gunsan)

Mandarin Duck (Daejeon)

Mallard (Gunsan)

Common Teal (Daejeon/Gunsan)

Eastern Spot-billed Duck (common)

Northern Pintail (Gunsan)

Northern Shoveler (Gunsan)

Common Pochard (Gunsan)

Tufted Duck (Gunsan)

Black-eared Kite (Busan)

Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Daejeon)

unidentified raptor (possibly Grey faced Buzzard (Busan)

Common Kestrel

Hobby (Daejeon)

Peregrine (Gunsan)

Common Pheasant 

Common Moorhen (Daejeon)

Far Eastern Oystercatcher (Gunsan)

Pacific Golden Plover (Gunsan/Incheon Island)

Grey Plover (Gunsan)

Long-billed Plover (Daejeon)

Little Ringed Plover

Kentish Plover (Incheon)

Lesser Sand (Mongolian) Plover (Gunsan)

Common Snipe (Daejeon)

Black-tailed Godwit (Gunsan)

Bar-tailed Godwit (Gunsan/Incheon Is)

Whimbrel  (Gunsan/Incheon Is)

Far Eastern Curlew (Gunsan/Incheon Is)

Spotted Redshank (Gunsan)

Common Greenshank (Gunsan)

Green Sandpiper (Daejeon)

Wood Sandpiper (Daejeon)

Terek Sandpiper (Gunsan)

Common Sandpiper (Daejeon)

Grey-tailed Tattler (Daejeon/Busan)

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Gunsan)

Dunlin (Gunsan)

Black-tailed Gull

Slaty-backed Gull (1 imm at Busan)

Vega Gull

Black-headed Gull (Gunsan/Incheon Is)

Little Tern (Gunsan/Incheon Is etc)

Feral Pigeon

Oriental Turtle Dove (common)

Indian Cuckoo (Daejeon)

Oriental Cuckoo (Daejeon)

Oriental Scops Owl (Daejeon - singing outside Grants flat)

Northern Boobook (Daejeon)

Pacific Swift (2 Busan)

Common Kingfisher (Daejeon)

probable Black-capped Kingfisher (Busan)

Dollarbird (2 over cemetery - Daejeon)

Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

White-backed Woodpecker

Grey-headed Woodpecker

Common Skylark

Barn Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

White Wagtail (2 races)

Japanese Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Olive-backed Pipit

Brown-eared Bulbul

Ashy Minivet (Busan/1 over Daejeon)

Japanese Waxwing (Busan)

Blue Rock Thrush (Busan)

Siberian Thrush (Busan)

White's Thrush

Grey-backed Thrush

Japanese Thrush

Eyebrowed Thrush

Pale Thrush 

Dusky Thrush

Zitting Cisticola

Asian Stubtail

Manchurian Bush Warbler

Japanese Bush Warbler

Oriental Reed Warbler

Pale-legged Leaf Warbler

Yellow-browed Warbler

Sakhalin Leaf Wabler (Busan)

Eastern Crowned Warbler

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher

Narcissus Flycatcher

Blue-and-White Flycatcher

Rufous-tailed Robin

Siberian Blue Robin

Daurian Redstart

Vinous-throated Parrotbill

Long-tailed Tit

Coal Tit

Marsh Tit

Varied Tit

Japanese Tit

Chinese Penduline Tit

Eurasian Nuthatch

Japanese White-eye

Black-naped Oriole

Bull-headed Shrike

Eurasian Jay

Common Magpie

Azure winged Magpie

Large-billed Crow

White-cheeked Starling

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Brambling

Oriental Greenfinch

Hawfinch (Daejeon)

Yellow-throated Bunting

Black-faced Bunting

Pallas's Reed Bunting

South Korea part 6

The beginning of the final week saw two days bank holiday, a rare event in South Korea, so I got a chance to go out with Grant again which was great. One of the days was to celebrate Buddha's birthday. However this was probably more of a subdued celebration as the country was still in shock and deep sadness from the recent ferry disaster.

On Tuesday, we went to Gyeryonsang National Park with a colleague of Grants from the University. Beautiful day, lots of people and a lot of climbing. Visited the temple on the way, a very nice day out. We stopped to watch people pay their respects and took in some refreshments.

We could hear quiet a few Blue-and-White Flycatchers and Eastern Crowned Warblers as we walked up into the hills along a steep stony track.

After this and a nice curry it was time for me to catch my coach back to Incheon. I booked a hotel room which turned out to be an apartment next to the airport, it was pretty much 5 star and only cost 50 quid or so! In the morning I went for a walk over some open ground and had a look at some waders on the sea, however, this was near a busy road and an airport security van appeared so I decided to leave, I walked over to an open area with a large reedbed, here there were Skylarks singing, presumably the far eastern race, Kentish Plovers seemed to be on territory plus there was at least one Fan-tailed Warbler, this I didn't recognise at first as the song here is completely different from the song in Europe. Then that was it, I had to catch my plane. The plane was delayed for a hour whilst they fixed the wing or something, but I still managed my connection in Helsinki. It was strange to be back, but even stranger for Grant suddenly not having me at his flat!

South Korea part 5 - Busan continued

Female Daurian Redstart

I stood for ages in this part of the forest recording the sounds around me. Eventually the Bulbuls would push off a lot of the migrants but before that a Japanese Thrush landed above me and began to sing, a Black-naped Oriole dropped in and started singing. 2 Pacific Swifts were flying about with a group of Swallows, including 1 at least Red-rumped.

Brown-eared Bulbul (at last a reasonable picture of one spying on me)

Ashy Minivet

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Ashy Minivet

Grey-backed Thrush

Brambling

Things got even better when I found a small group of Brambling and amongst them at least 5 Japanese Waxwings, and got some terrible shots for the record. They were quite hard to approach and considering they were down a forested slope not easy to get anywhere near anyway.

On the way back I stopped for a couple of beers at an outdoor cafe, took in the view and enjoyed the sun, it was certainly getting quite busy now and there were lots of people walking along the boardwalk. A Pacific Reef Egret flew past, the only one I saw and I almost missed it.

Grey-tailed Tattler

The next morning I had a walk around the busy Dongbeak park at the end of Haeundae Beach. The White-eyes were still there but there were also more migrants around. I could hear a thrush singing, a zoothera type thrush somewhere under an egret colony. Then I flushed an all dark thrush from the edge of the path and heard the bird singing again, it was a male Siberian Thrush, very hard to get a good look at as it spent most of the time on the ground in the cover of the bamboos. However it was giving a lot of subdued song and it seemed so close. I finally went under the egret colony to peer into the gloom and saw it fly off again further into the bamboos.



The egret colony consisted of Great and Little Egrets with Grey Herons and a Chinese Pond Heron appeared perched out on top of a tree but quickly flew off when I got the camera on it. I also caught sight of something odd perched on a branch by the beach in the grounds of the Nurimaru APEC House. It had a black cap and white collar, couldn't figure it out and I got mostly a silhouette, then it flew towards the sea and it was clearly some kind of Kingfisher, presumably a Black-capped. But frustratingly the area was out of bounds and fenced off with a security guard at one end and I didn't see the bird after it flew down towards the water.

South Korea part 4 - Busan

I caught the KTX bullet train from Daejeon to Busan which took about 2 and a half hours and travelled at a max speed of 300 kilometres an hour. I'd got off to a bad start by leaving my phone (a Korean phone) in the taxi. When I got to Busan I had to try and phone Virgin to barr the phone so I needed to get an international phone card. The girl in the shop had no idea what I was on about, but another girl overheard me and helped me find a phone card, find a phone box and dial the number which I was really grateful for

Busan is the second largest city in South Korea, it was instantly amazing and overwhelming so instead of going straight to the hotel I'd booked I thought I'd go to this park I'd heard a lot about called Taejongdae Park as it turned out to be closer to the station than the hotel. I caught a bus, doing the tourist thing of trying to give the bus driver a 10000 won note, not done. A nice lady on the bus smiled at me sympathetically.

I heard some unfamiliar sounds when entering the park which initially caused me some confusion, one of them turned out to be Blue-and-white Flycatcher and the other I had a sneaking feeling was Sakhalin Leaf Warbler, this is a rare vagrant to Korea and if you want to find one, Busan is the best place it seems. I turned out to be right and I got a not particularly good recording of it.

Round the corner near a picnic area I was stunned to see a couple of male Narcissus Flycatchers, I'd heard that these were regular here but had no idea it would be that easy to see them, but I suppose they were behaving like spring Flycatchers, being pretty obvious...

Male Narcissus Flycatcher 

Male Daurian Redstart

Yellow-throated Bunting

I met the nice lady from the bus again and she made signs like she wanted a drink, so I offered her some juice but what she actually meant was she was going for a cup of tea. Just as she walked off a Japanese Bush Warbler burst into song behind us, I almost thought it was her phone ringtone until it gave another burst of song from a bush then went totally silent.

Another Red-rumped Swallow had joined up with a party of Barn Swallows and were busy feeding overhead. This was a nice introduction to birding in Busan, even if it was late in the day, the weather was humid with a stormy feel about it which looked promising.....

I stayed at the famous Haeundae Beach in a place called the JJ Inn hotel, the taxi driver had trouble finding it. It turned out to be next to a red light district. I went for a wander in the area, turned a corner and found myself walking past glass fronted booths full of stunning girls which I have to admit was not expecting at all.

The following day, well for me, as Busan doesn't sleep. I decided to walk to another park about 6 kilometres away called Igidae Park. I stopped at Dongbeak park just next to the beach and had another go at getting rubbish shots of a Pygmy Woodpecker.

Pygmy Woodpecker

Juvenile Japanese White-eye

Black-eared Kite

Black-tailed Gull

Blue Rock Thrushes project their songs from man made structures such as cranes

On reaching Igidae Park, there was an amazing boardwalk all along the edge of the rocks, this was fine to start with, offering some great views, but as you move on the boardwalk gets more cramped and it gets busier, that's where I took a path up into the forest.

This was a amazing place, warm, humid but pleasantly so, full of lush vegetation and as I reached the edge of a valley, teeming with birds. I could hear Eastern Crowned, Yellow-browed Warblers singing. Grey-backed and possibly Pale Thrushes singing then a flock of Ashy Minivets appeared, I could count six but there seemed to be many more.