Survey in Yudo on March 18, 2022

Dr. Bernhard Seliger and Dr. Hyun-Ah Choi (Birds Korea, Hanns Seidel Foundation)

In between the rain on Thursday and the snow-rain on Saturday, we managed to spend a day with clouded skies, but a perfectly clear view in Gimpo. Though spring migration is in full swing, large groups of Geese – a total of 1,200 Greater White-Fronted Geese and 1,700 Tundra Bean Geese in both areas – and raptors like White-tailed Eagles (3) and Eastern Buzzards (2) were still in place.

Notable counts include:

  • At least 650 Swan Geese (probably an undercount, due to their place right below the military fence and inquiring soldiers coming). We saw them here regularly in winter since 2018 (November and December, until the ground, where they like to feed, freezes), but this was the second highest overall count and the first spring count
  • Around 1,300 Great Cormorants at Yudo Islet, with probably 600 nests in use.
  • At the same place, around 140 Grey Herons nesting. No Black-Faced Spoonbills or Great Egrets were seen nesting yet.
  • 12 White-Naped Cranes feeding on the opposite side of Han river (close to Odusan observatory).
  • At least 4000 gulls in the river; among them Mongolian Gulls, Vega Gulls, Black-tailed Gulls, and a few Black-headed Gulls.
  • A goose with transmitter and ring (see below) at Siam wetland.
  • A Common Starling among a group of White-cheeked Starlings.
  • Very few waders yet: 3 Far Eastern Oystercatchers far-out in Han River on a sandbank; and three Little Ringed Plovers at Siam Wetland.
  • Along them fence, some movement of thrushes, starlings, Rustic and Yellow-throated Buntings.
  • In the fields, ongoing work to put trenches into pipes or concrete trenches leads to a poorer and poorer habitat. Raising concern of this destruction of biodiversity will be one of the focus areas of our work this year.

You can find the full lists at:

Yu-do area: https://ebird.org/checklist/S105265077

Siam-Ri wetland area:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S105265082

Swan Geese Anser cygnoides together with Tundra Bean Geese and Eastern Spot-billed Ducks Anas zonorhyncha just behind the military fence protecting Han river (therefore the blur in the picture) © Bernhard Seliger
Swan Goose Anser cygnoides © Bernhard Seliger
Grey-capped Woodpecker Dendrocopos canicapillus, a bird of riparian forests © Bernhard Seliger
Looking for nesting material; Great Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo were busy preparing their homes © Bernhard Seliger
Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris and a White-cheecked Starling Spodiopsar cineraceus feeding along fence of Han River © Bernhard Seliger
Greater White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons with a transmitter and ring near Siam Wetland © Bernhard Seliger
The sad part of the story – every time being in the survey area, we are greeted by new monstrous concrete trenches and now also massive concrete accessways into the fields © Bernhard Seliger

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