Bernhard Seliger (Hanns Seidel Foundation Korea, Birds Korea), with Park Ji-Hyun, Johann and Joseph Seliger
A short trip over the US thanksgiving weekend to Jeju Island was devoted to climbing some of the beautiful volcanoes called Oreum here (after a trip to Hallasan was shortcut by incoming snow, leading to very low visibility). These included Yongnuni Oreum, a beautiful oreum mostly bare of trees, teaming with buntings, Gomeun oreum, with the World Natural Heritage center, Sumangri forest path as well as Mulyeongari Oreum, a Ramsar site.
Typical forest and hill birds in the Oreum included Thick-billed crows, Oriental Magpies, Azure-winged magpies, Brown-eared bulbuls, Oriental Turtledoves, Great Tits, Varied Tits, Coal Tits, Siskins, Bramblings, Winter Wren, Bullheaded Shrikes, raptors like the Eastern Buzzard, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, and Common Kestrel, White-backed Woodpeckers and others.
Of special interest were:
- a large flock of rooks (around 2000) with a few Daurian Jackdaws mixed, occupying a village,
- six Black Kites circling (unfortunately in the last light of the evening),
- several large flocks of several hundred siskins,
- a flock of 25 Buff-bellied pipits.
