Bird News from Subhojit Chakladar
Back to Socheong after 5 days. The ferry ride proved to be absolutely sterile in terms of sea-birds but the first hour on the island proved to be quite nice. Firsts for the spring included a male and female Chinese Grosbeak, a Striated Heron in flight and about 12 Grey-faced Buzzards. Other than that a couple of Red-billed Starlings and a Japanese Bush Warbler were also spotted near the main village. But after that it was rather dull. The other highlights of the day included the first Brown Shrike and 3 male Siberian Rubythroats of the spring. Thrushes are much reduced with only a handful of White’s Thrush and Grey-backed Thrush other than the dominant Dusky Thrush. Firsts for this spring also included a Tristram’s Bunting in flight and lots of Yellow-browed Warblers. There seems to have been an increase in the number of Eurasian Wrynecks, Asian Stubtails, Pallas’s Leaf and Dusky Warblers as compared to last weekend.