East Busan, April 21st

Bird news from Subhojit Chakladar

My friend Todd Hull and I visited a popular park in east Busan on early Sunday morning and spent a few hours birding the roadside and a shaded stream. Right from the beginning we could detect the presence of a thrushes in good numbers. Initially we walked along the main road where flowering trees attracted Japanese White-eyes and a few Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers. As we walked up the road there was a small path leading to a shaded stream where we encountered out first Siberian Blue Robin (one of the several seen very well that day) and Grey Thrush. Several other Grey Thrushes were also encountered feeding on berries near a temple. Perhaps the most surprising bird of the trip was a pair of Russet Sparrows, which are rather rare on Korean mainland. More interestingly the male was seen carrying something that looked like nesting material. Are there any nesting records of Russet Sparrow in the Korean mainland? As the day progressed, the hiker traffic increased and we walked downhill along the shaded stream. There we found at least 2 Japanese Robin, a few Grey-backed Thrush and a few Pale-legged leaf warblers (TH only). There were also Blue and White Flycatchers and Narcissus Flycatchers around. In all it was a productive and satisfactory morning of birding.

Japanese Robin
Grey Thrush
Siberian Blue Robin
Russet Sparrow © Todd Hull

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