Birds News from Jason Loghry
On Saturday morning, light to dark grey clouds covered the sky. A typhoon (Toraji) had passed the night before more quietly than expected. At Myeongji, 300+ Barn Swallow were at roost on some reeds, while hundreds more were in flight. This roosting flock included 4+ brown Martins (were they Pale or Sand?). From a distance, I was able to find and watch a few shorebirds. They included Mongolian Plover (5), Common Greenshank (9), Red-necked Stint (131), Wood Sandpiper (23), Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (3), Great Knot (30+), Whimbrel, Far Eastern Curlew (7), and Eurasian Curlew (2).
Straining to get good views, I decided to move on to Eulsukdo. I met up with members of the Nakdong Eco-school team, Ms Kim Bok Sun and Ms Park Jin Ju. Walking along a stretch of willow trees, we found a few juvenile and adult Grey-streaked Flycatchers hawking insects. We also found one adult Asian Brown Flycatcher and four Arctic Warbler sensu lato (JL). Other species observed were Common Kingfisher, Oriental Reed Warbler, and still many Far Eastern Cisticola.
On my way home, I couldn’t help but make one more stop at a favorite patch. At this spot, I often only find roosting Spot-billed Duck, Mandarin Duck (including juvenile), Common Greenshank, egrets and herons. So you can imagine how stoked I was when I found Black-tailed Godwit (5), Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (3), Wood Sandpiper (15), Black-winged Stilt (5) and Common Snipe (7) all within a few meters of my usual observation point.