Bird News from Spike Millington
When does winter start in Songdo? For me, it is when the Great Cormorants disappear. This year, at least 200 were lined up on the islands and mudflats on Dec 1st. Two weeks later all had gone. I don’t think they go far. A colleague recently reported 300 flying along the Han river in Seoul. But in mid-winter, Songdo is cormorant-free. Waterfowl and shorebird numbers seem quite stable throughout the winter. Here are my counts.
- Bean Goose (35 on 2 Feb)
- Common Shelduck (1,000 birds wintering, numbers very steady and many more than last winter)
- Ruddy Shelduck (210 at Namdong Reservoir on 31 Jan)
- Gadwall (20)
- Falcated Duck (2 pairs, Namdong Reservoir on 11 January)
- Mallard (Perhaps 800 in the area in January, many more than last winter)
- Eastern Spot-billed Duck (500 in mid-December, but numbers lower subsequently)
- Northern Shoveler (500)
- Northern Pintail (100)
- Eurasian Teal (300, almost exclusively on Namdong Reservoir)
- Common Pochard (500)
- Tufted Duck (Up to 10)
- Greater Scaup (15)
- Common Goldeneye (50)
- Smew (2)
- Common Merganser (Up to 30)
- Red-breasted Merganser (10)
- Little Grebe (3)
- Great Crested Grebe (1 wpl on 2 Feb, I think my first for Songdo)
- Grey Heron (up to 18)
- Common Moorhen (Unusually, 2 up to 11 Jan, but not since)
- Eurasian Coot (7)
- Eastern Oystercatcher (10, up to 15 Dec, gone now I think. Last year Dunlin and Grey Plover also wintered but this year I have not seen any)
- Eurasian Curlew (the only wintering shorebird, with up to 700 birds)
Yesterday, 2 February, while visiting Namdong Reservoir, complete with AI Warning Signs (the signs were put up by Ministry of Agriculture around the reservoir, I wasn’t personally carrying AI warning signs.
I looked up at the bare trees on the island to see 4 Great Cormorants, looking very handsome in their white-faced breeding dress, perched there. So maybe spring is coming ! However, when I looked up again they had gone, so perhaps they don’t really think it is spring at all …..