Overview

This was the first ‘organised’ birding trip to South Korea in spring. The purpose was to see shorebirds and to experience spring migration. Many of the participants had also previously birded e.g. Hong Kong, Beidaihe and Happy Island and were looking for species that are difficult to locate at other birding destinations.

The trip was a huge success with two firsts for Korea (Crag Martin and Ferruginous Flycatcher), excellent wader counts including sightings of Little Whimbrel and Asiatic Dowitcher. We also had Baikal Teal and Swan Geese on exceptionally late spring dates as well as excellent numbers of migrants and a supporting cast of many globally rare species e.g. Nordmanns Greenshank, Black Faced Spoonbill and Chinese Egret.

The areas visited were primarily tidal flats at Saemangeum and around Gunsan and one day at Seosan. The rest of the time was spent on an island called Eocheong Do, 3 hrs by ferry from Gunsan on the west side of Korea. This island had only ever been birded once before (by Nial Moores) for two days about a week prior to our arrival! Indeed we were the first Westerners that most people on the island had ever seen.

The only disappointment of the trip was that after three days of wader watching, the only sighting of Spoon-billed Sandpiper was one very brief view by Nial Moores of a single bird.
 
 

Trip Team

Those that were on the trip were:

Nial Moores – Guide and organiser who is living in Korea and has an unequalled knowledge of local birds and whose identification skills in the field are superb. Nial can be contacted at: spoonbill@hotmail.com

Tony Lancaster, Dennis Weir, Willie McDowell and myself (arrived on the 21^st April).

On the 25^th we were joined by Jeff Gilligan, Tom Staudt, Nick Lethaby, Gerard Lillie and Jim Dowdall.
 
 

Getting there

We flew with British Midland from Belfast to London, then London to Frankfurt and Frankfurt to Seoul Incheon with Lufthansa. We left Belfast at 10:30 on a Saturday morning and arrived in Seoul the following day at 11:30 am Korean time (8 hours ahead). The flight cost was £550. No visa was required.
 
 

Itinerary

Sat 24^th April – Left UK

Sun 25^th – Arrived Seoul Incheon. Birded close to the airport at Yeongjong. Drove to Gunsan that evening

Mon 26^th to Wed 24^th – Took an early morning ferry to Eocheong Do from Gunsan. Stayed on the island until the afternoon of Wednesday 24^th when we returned to Gunsan. Joined by the American contingent and Jim Dowdall on the night of the 24^th.

Thur 25^th ad Fri 26^th – Birded tidal flats around Saemangeum and Gunsan.

Sat 27^th to Thurs 2^nd May - Returned to Eocheong Do on the early morning ferry on the Saturday. Stayed on the island until the Thursday afternoon.

Fri 3^rd – Birded tidal flats and some nearby areas around Gunsan.

Sat 4^th – Travelled to Seosan and birded the area. Minibus technical problems restricted birding in this area! Travelled onto Incheon to be near the Airport for the Sunday flight departures.

Sun 5^th – We had about 4 hours birding close to the airport at Yeongjong. PM flight back to the UK.
 
 

Background information

There are some reasonable websites including:

Wetland Birds Korea: www.wbkenglish.com

Bird Watching Korea: www.knto.or.kr

Birds of Korea: www.203.253.33.6/~srcho/

Previous trip reports accessed included:

Korea, May 1998, Erik Toorman & Duncan James: http://perswww.kuleuven.ac.be/~p6478500/korea.html

South Korea, December 2001, John Day.

The identification guides that we utilised were:

A field guide to the Birds of Korea – Woo-Shin LEE, Tae-Hoe KOO and Jin-Young PARK. (Useful but not to the same high standard as typical western field guides).

550 Birds of Japan: (two part photo guide with little English content except for species names. Still was very useful)

A field guide to the Birds of South East Asia, Craig Robson. (High level of detail and good plates)

Lars Johnson, Birds of Europe (Of limited use only).
 
 

Essential Information

Guiding: It is difficult to see how you could manage to survive in Korea without someone local who can arrange logistics, accommodation and travel etc. Even getting food is difficult. Very little English is spoken and visiting a country with a totally different culture is not easy. Nial Moores has lived in Korea for 4 years and should be contacted if you are thinking about visiting.

Money: Try and bring Korean Won with you. We were able to obtain it in the UK. This will prevent wasting time in arranging an itinerary around bank opening times.

Food: It is as bad as expected but just about bearable. On Eocheong Do the restaurant that we used was good in that the owner would make the effort to try and meet our individual needs – not a common practice in Korea. There is generally very little choice and little variety. Food is however reasonably priced. Beer was about £2 a bottle in most restaurants. Koreans eat a similar meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner (generally a meat dish with rice, vegetables and loads of chilli sauce!). I brought a bottle of Dijon mayonnaise which helped flavour the eggs that we had every morning. We only used bottled water. Dog is available and in one restaurant the waitress purposely hid the fact that dog was a choice on the menu, knowing that it is not appreciated by westerners!

Accommodation: Nothing in the UK compares with Love Motels which we used for 5 nights of the trip. You can have anything from round beds with mirrors to a TV with an "adult" channel. They were generally £15 - £25 a night and were clean. The Hotel on the island was about £18 a night for a room but more basic and not as clean as it could have been. Only 5 rooms in the island hotel had beds, the rest use ‘futons’.

Travel: We used a rented bus and driver for the mainland driving. Generally about £130 a day. (Road signs on the main roads are also in English but if going off the main roads to a site, you will need detailed directions).

Climate: It varied from hot sunny days (which required sun protection) to full days of rain.
 
 

Habitat

Tidal Flats: Those watched were primarily at Saemangeum, some of the world’s widest tidal flats. Watching tidal flats is difficult and often frustrating. They stretch for miles and the high tide viewing period for seeing large numbers of waders is limited. In addition, the congregation of large numbers of birds into small areas (e.g. at a high tide roost), can lead to viewing difficulties for example with disturbance or a hunting raptor. With probably only one high tide during the daylight hours it is important that you are in the right place at the right time. We experienced spectacular close up views of waders at some sites and then experienced the sight of miles of mud when we slightly misjudged a high tide. The early dates of our visit coincided with the higher tides (full moon). However, it is with great sadness to report that this site will be lost within a few years. The government are currently building a huge sea wall and the land will be reclaimed in probably 4 years time. This loss of tidal habitat is on an unprecedented scale and the long term implications for species such as Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Great Knot are extremely worrying.

Eocheong Do: This island is on the Yellow Sea and ideal for seeking out migrants. It is about 3 miles long and two miles wide and 3 hrs by boat from Gunsan. It is the only inhabited island in the area. It has cultivated areas around the village, a lighthouse, a beach, a small reservoir and a number of deciduous wooded gulleys. All are workable on foot making it easy to bird. It also has a Korean ‘Government’ presence in certain areas which while fenced off and inaccessible, provides some of the best habitat for e.g. larks and pipits. Accompanied access may be possible in the future. Credit must be given to Nial for bringing us to this island as it had no previous birding record but now the enormous potential has been recognised.

Seosan: This is an area with two huge freshwater lakes and rice paddies that are a result of reclamation. There are no dwelling houses in the area so disturbance is less than at other sites. Good for wildfowl, geese and waders.

Woodland: There is extensive woodland throughout Korea although the range and number of bird species is very limited.

It must be said that the extensive rice fields seen whilst travelling throughout the country are relatively birdless. Such intensive agriculture with widespread use of pesticides and fertilisers cannot be in the long term interest of the country. However one significant plus for Korea is that there is only very limited hunting of birds. We only saw one shooter during two weeks and a few shotgun cartridges at particular locations.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Summary of birding highlights

The species counts at the end give a detailed breakdown of our sightings. However, the following is a summary of some of the more interesting sightings:
 

Species	Comments
Baikal Teal	At least two birds (possibly as many as 5) were seen at Seosan on the second last day of our trip. These birds were unexpected as most Baikal Teal have left Korea by March.
Swan Goose	Again, two birds were unexpected, found in amongst a flock of Bean Geese.
Black Faced Spoonbill	We had a significant fall of birds on Eocheong Do which produced many great birds, including two Black Faced Spoonbills. One of the most memorable sights of the trip is seeing these two birds feed in the moonlight on the beach.
Chinese Egret	A small number of birds were seen around Yeong Jeong.
Little Whimbrel	At least three, if not four birds were seen. These birds were extremely confiding.
Asiatic Dowitcher	Again, a total of three birds were seen at two different sites.
Nordmanns Greenshank	A number of different birds were seen during the trip. To find them, they can require perseverance but are relatively easily separated from Greenshank.
Spoon Billed Sandpiper	Three days were spent wader watching and we were disappointed that the group did not get any views. One bird was picked up briefly by Nial Moores before the flock of stints took of.
Streaked Shearwater	Seen each time from the boat over to Eocheong Do.
Ancient Murrelet	Again, seen in very small numbers during each boat trip.
Oriental Pratincole	At least five birds were seen around the island.
Blyths Pipit	At least two birds (probably 4) were seen on the island.
Buff Bellied Pipit	Seen on the island and at Seosan.
Amur Falcon	One frequented the island for two days, often giving superb views. However it was missed by 2 of the party!
White Throated Needletail	Some birds were seen (and heard) at very close range.
Himalayan Swiftlet	After Nial picked up two-three birds on his previous visit, we had a single bird, followed by a sighting, by Tony, of six the following day.
Crag Martin	This bird was seen independently flying around the island by at least five birders. It was seen again briefly on a number of occasions. This was a first for Korea.
Buntings	All the Buntings (except Rustic) listed were seen most days, often giving excellent views.
Thrushes	All listed Thrushes were seen although Grey and Siberian were often difficult to pick up due to their skulking habits. However excellent views of all other thrushes were obtained by everyone.
Greater Short Toed Lark	Two birds were seen although they were difficult to observe due to their choice of habitat in a controlled area.
Ferruginous Flycatcher	Amazingly, three records of this first for Korea.
Narcissus Flycatcher	Birds were seen regularly during the trip. One, if not two, birds were ‘Elisae’ Flycatcher, a very poorly known form, which are believed to differ in males having olive green upperparts with a bright yellow throat, and the females being generally similar, though duller.

Species Counts

The following are the daily species counts. They are a combination of everyone’s sightings. It should be noted that from the 21^st to 25^th, there were only five members of the group birding Eocheong Do.

Korea, Spring Trip 2002, Species List

Date
 

Species	21/4	22/4	23/4	24/4	25/4	26/4	27/4	28/4	29/4	30/4	1/05	2/05	3/05	4/05	5/05
Red Throated Diver						1
Little Grebe											1			2
Great Crested Grebe														3
Streaked Shearwater		300+		10	100+			50				100+
Temmick’s Cormorant		3	3	3	2			2	3	3	4	3
Night Heron		2	3	1	2	5		10	5	13	13	3	10	60	5
Striated Heron		5	2					2	1	11	4	3	6	5
Little Egret		10						2	2			10
Great White Egret (Alba and Modesta)	20	20+				15		2	2	15	12	12		60	6
Intermediate Egret	3	1							2	10	7	2	2	5
Chinese Egret	3									1					1
Cattle Egret			1	1	2				1	35	21	30	20	10
Little Egret	6		6	3	2	4				60	15		2	30	4
Purple Heron											1	1		2
Grey Heron	6	20	1	3	40+	50+		1	11	20	15	10	35+	75+	5
Chinese Pond Heron	1									5	4	3	1
Black-faced Spoonbill										2	2
White Spoonbill													1	2
Swan Goose														2
Eastern Tundra Bean Goose (A. f. serrirostris)														1300
Greater White –Fronted Goose (Frontalis)						2								2
Common Shelduck						100+							30	10
Northern Spot-billed Duck	120+	2		10	4	150+		2		2	2		7	300	30
Mallard	6					100+							4	200
Northern Shoveler	2					30+								50
Northern Pintail	20													40
Eurasian Wigeon	10					30								100
Common Teal	12					100+							10	450	10
Baikal Teal														2+
Falcated Duck						6								30
Garganey	7					15								50
Gadwall														30
Pochard	1													1	1
Tufted Duck						3
Greater Scaup						1
Osprey								1		1	1
Northern Goshawk										2	1	3
Eurasian Kestrel						1							3	3	1
Peregrine		1	1	1	1	1		2	1	2	4	4		1
Eurasian Sparrowhawk		1	1	1	2			1		1	1
Chinese Goshawk								1	1	10	8	2
Japanese Lesser Sparrowhawk		3						3		8	30	20
Northern Hobby			1						2	1	2	2
Amur Falcon										1	1	1
Grey Faced Buzzard	1								1	1	1	6
Japanese Quail						4							2
Pheasant						1							5	5	2
Moorhen			1							1	2		1
White-breasted Waterhen											1
Kentish Plover	6			1		40+								4	4
Lesser (Mongolian) Sand Plover						200+							400+	1	6
Greater Sand Plover													1
Pacific Golden Plover			1			1								10
Grey Plover	200+	100+			10	300+							100+		100+
Eastern Oystercatcher (Osculans)		10			3	7						4		2
Wood Sandpiper		1	4	1	1				5	12	15	5	20	100+	12
Green Sandpiper		1	1	1				1	1	1	2				1
Common Sandpiper			1					1	4	1	1	1	3	7	1
Red-necked Stint						400+			3	4			1500+	1	9
Spoon-billed Sandpiper							1
Temmick’s Stint										1
Little Stint													1
Long-toed Stint						1								10
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper						1500+				1			400+	3	2
Dunlin					20+	8000+							2500+		5000+
Curlew Sandpiper													6	5
Red Knot					2	50									3
Great Knot	500+				200+	1500+							250+		150
Broad-billed Sandpiper													150+
Ruddy Turnstone						150+		3							30
Spotted Redshank						25				1			30	10	25
Redshank													6		1
Marsh Sandpiper						2							1	2
Greenshank			1			100+		1	10	11	10	3	50	60	25
Nordmann’s (Spotted) Greenshank						2							4
Terek Sandpiper	6				1	400+			1	7	2	1	200+	7	50
Grey-tailed Tattler						4			1	1
Black-tailed Godwit						400+						100+	150	300+	50
Bar-tailed Godwit	200+				20+	800+						40+	120		200+
Asiatic Dowitcher													3
Little Whimbrel									2	3	2	2		1
Far Eastern Curlew	250	10+			10	200+			1	2	1	2	40		3
Eurasian Curlew	5	5			1	10							15
Whimbrel	120+	4			30+	80+				1	1	40	100+	25	50+
Little Ringed Plover	4												1	2	2
Common Snipe	5		2							4	3			20
Pintail Snipe										1
Latham’s Snipe		1			1				5	7	1
Swinhoe’s Snipe										1
Black-winged Stilt														5
Eurasian Woodcock					1				2	1
Oriental Pratincole										1	3	2
"Pacific" Black-legged Kittiwake				1
Kamchatka Gull						12		2
Saunders’s Gull	4				1										3
Black-headed Gull		50+			10	150							30	150
Black-tailed Gull	300	200	100+	150+	200+	200		50+	10	25	50+	120+		20	30+
Mongolian Gull (Yellow legged) Larus (cachinnans) mongolicus	25	20	4	10		10				5
Vega Gull	15	10	40+	40	75+	140		200+		40	20	25		2
Heuglin’s (Siberian) Gull (Taimyrensis)		2	1	4
Slaty-backed Gull		3	2	1
Little Tern	20	100+			40+	50		40+				10	10	10	50+
Common Tern													1	1
Ancient Murrelet		7			6			21
Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker						1							6	3
Grt. Spotted Woodpecker	2													1	2
Grey Headed Woodpecker	1					1							2	1
Rufous Turtle Dove	50+	10	10	6	10	150		10	20	20	15	25	40	80+	20
Oriental Scops Owl	1									1	1	1	1	2	1
Brown Hawk Owl									4				1
Grey Nightjar									2	2	2
Oriental Cuckoo				1	1								1
Cuckoo sp.										2		1
Pacific Swift		30	10	6	1			25	20+	25	20	15	3
White-throated Needletail										1	25	35
Himalayan Swiftlet		1	6
Common Kingfisher		2	4	1	1	1		2	5	5	4	4		1	2
Black-capped Kingfisher									1	2	1	1
Dollarbird												3
Hoopoe	6			1	1					2	2	1	2	1	1
Wryneck			1	1	2					1	1
Greater Short-toed Lark				1							1
Barn Swallow	6	20	25	20	25	50+		35	100+	300+	200+	75+	40	30	20
Red Rumped Swallow (Japonica)	4	15	2		10			3	10	60+	15		2	2
Asiatic House Martin										2
Crag Martin									1
Yellow Wagtail			3		1			2	15	30+	15	10	1	30	1
Citrine Wagtail										1
Grey Wagtail	4	2	8	5	2			2	30	25	10	6	1		1
White Wagtail		1	12	8	6	40+		1	70	100+	30	25	3		3
Black-backed Wagtail (Lugens)					1
Richards Pipit			5		3			1	6	10	12	8
Blyth’s Pipit										2	2
Pechora Pipit										1				1
Siberian Buff Bellied Pipit (Japonica)	1	2							1	4	3			5
Olive Backed Pipit	5	40+	700+	150+	100+			60	2000+	1000+	400	150	10	5	1
Red-throated Pipit	2	10	6	5	2			1	10	15	12	6	3	25
Eurasian Tree Pipit										1
Zitting Cisticola	4												1	1	1
Ashy Minivet		1	3	14	3			3	40	200+	300+	100+	5		10
Brown-eared Bulbul		10	12+	20	30+	12		15	10	20	45	50+	10	12	12
Bull-headed Shrike	3	4	2	2	3	1		3	2	2	3	1	2	1	2
Waxwing sp.										1
Northern Wren		3	1	2	4					1		1
Siberian Rubythroat									1	1
Japanese Robin					1
Red-spotted Bluethroat		1
Siberian Blue Robin		12	1	10	20			6	8	8	1	3	3
Red-flanked Bluetail		2	1	14	15			3	1	2	5
Daurian Redstart				1					1	1	1		2	3	2
Siberian Stonechat			5	25	15			7	1	7	25	20		1
"Red-breasted" Blue Rock Thrush (philippensis)		4	5	3	3			8	3	5	5	8
Whites Thrush	1	1	3	1		1		6	4	3	2	1	1	1	1
Pale Thrush		10	10	5	8	1		5	30+	15	8	2
Dusky Thrush (both eunomus and naummani)	8	30	100+	40+	60+			45	100+	50+	20	10	1
Siberian Thrush				1				2	1	1
Grey-backed Thrush		3	2	10	20+			8	10	15	10	2
Brown Thrush		1		3	4			4	2	10	5	2
Eye-browed Thrush										1	1	1
Grey Thrush		3	3	2	1				1	3
Chinese Blackbird (T. [merula] mandarinus)		1
Black-throated Thrush			1
Red-throated Thrush		1
Asian Stubtail		8	3	12	20+			5	8	8	10	3
Japanese Bush Warbler Cettia diphone cantans		2	2	3	2			2	3	2	1	1
Korean Bush Warbler Cettia (diphone) borealis		2	3	2	5			2			2	2
Goldcrest		2							1
Dusky Warbler		1	6	6	9			1		6	6	6
Radde’s Warbler					1			1
Yellow-browed Warbler		1	3	10	20+			15	5	200+	150+	100+	3
Pallas’s Leaf Warbler		2			10			1		1
Pale-legged Leaf Warbler		100+	15	20	20	1		15	50	20	25	10	3
Eastern Crowned Warbler		150+	8	20	25			25	75	40	75+	20	2		1
Two-barred Greenish Warbler										5
Hume’s Leaf Warbler										1	1
Oriental Reed Warbler						1						3		3
Narcissus Flycatcher (inc. elisae)				3	1			1 + 1 elisae	5	4	2	1
Mugimaki Flycatcher									1
Yellow-rumped Flycatcher		6		1	3			4	7	7	7	5
Blue & White Flycatcher		6	3	8	3			4	8	5	5	6
Ferruginous Flycatcher								2		1
Brown Flycatcher		1	1	2	1				7	10	8	6
Long-tailed Tit	3													3
Chinese Penduline Tit					2								5	20
Varied Tit													1		2
Marsh Tit													3	3
Coal Tit	1	20	10	15	6	10		6	1	1	2	1		2
Great Tit	40+	4	2		10	2			2	4	2	1	8	2	6
Japanese White-eye		2	2	1	5			1		1	1	1
Vinous-throated Parrotbill	1					20							30	40	10
Tristram’s Bunting	1	40+	30+	100+	50			35	100+	25	50+	25			2
Yellow-browed Bunting		10	40+	20	25			15	75+	25	15	15	1		2
Yellow-breasted Bunting		1	3	1	2			5	1	5	6	2	1
Japanese Yellow Bunting		1	6	2	1			6	7	6	4	4
Little Bunting		25	50+	120+	120+			60	150+	25	50+	60	2
Black-faced Bunting	2	35	150+	100+	100+	12		50	100+	50	60+	120
Yellow-throated Bunting	1	6	2	5	5			4			1	2	20	1	1
Chesnut Bunting			1	1	2			2	1	2	4	1
Chesnut-eared Bunting			1		2	1		2	1	2	2	2
Siskin	10	10	50+	5	25			5	50+	300+	350+	120+
Brambling	1	4	75+	60+	60			6	100+	400+	150+	60+
Oriental Greenfinch	8													1
Common Rosefinch					1				2	2	1
Crossbill		25	14	14	14			6	6	30	20	28
Chinese Grosbeak			19						1	5	6	2
Japanese Grosbeak			1
Hawfinch		4	3	1	2			2	3	12	14	2
Black-naped Oriole			1					1	1	6	25	3
Tree Sparrow	100	10	15	10	10			12	10	10	10		100+	100+	35+
Silky Starling		1
White Cheeked Starling	20				3			1	1		2	1	4	5	10
Chestnut-(Red-) Cheeked Starling								3	5	5	3	2
Jay (brandti)						2							3	1	1
Azure-winged Magpie														20
Black-billed Magpie	80+	2	1	1	1			1	1	1	1	1	60+	50+	25
Corvid sp.													1

 

Columns in grey are those days which we spent on, or travelling to \ from, the island of EonchengDo.

Unfortunately there was no roll call on the 27^th following a demanding and wet day in the field. This day was spent wader watching. All the major wader species were seen including good counts of Great Knot, Broad-billed sandpipers, Grey Tailed Tattlers, Sharp Tailed Sandpipers and Red Necked Stints. It was during this day that one Spoon-billed Sandpiper was seen briefly by Nial Moores.

Thanks

Special thanks are made to both Nial Moores and to KIM Su-Kyung for assisting with our arrangements and for making the trip so enjoyable and successful. We hope that our trip will now prompt other birders to visit and thereby help in the promotion of birding and conservation in South Korea.
 
 

Report prepared by:

Wilton Farrelly

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Tel: 028 90 225 818

E mail: w.farrelly@hjmartin.co.uk or wilton_farrelly@postmaster.co.uk