Please Contact Us! | Birds Korea Blog

“Strength in Numbers!”

Birds Korea is dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats in Korea and the wider Yellow Sea Eco-region.

Founded in 2004, we are a legally-registered and award-winning Korean conservation NGO that depends entirely on project funds, donations, volunteers and active members to continue our work. Please join us!

At the time of writing (in 2023) we have 300+ members throughout Korea and a small office in Busan:

Birds Korea, 407 Ho, Daeyeon Hillstate Prugio, Su-Young Ro 345,Nam-gu, Busan 48432

Office Telephone: 051 627 3163

We also have a local, highly-active branch in Yeoncheon.

Thanks to the support of our members, supporters and friends we can get heard; we can influence decisions; we can win.

We conduct research; we work to solve issues through planning and design; and we do as much as our capacity allows to raise awareness and to support education programs. We are always open to collaboration with those of good mind – and are grateful for every opportunity to improve conservation opportunities as part of genuinely sustainable development.

Joining is easy: monthly membership is only 10,000 Korean won / month (though some of our members kindly provide 20,000 or even 30,000 a month) through bank transfer to:

Park Sun-Ae (Birds Korea)
Account Number: 563401-01-117087, Kookmin Bank
Swift Code: CZNBKRSE

After tax, all membership money is used for maintaining our office; and supporting projects (helping to cover expenses or buying equipment). None goes to salaries or perks.

“Bioblitz” education program for families and young students led by Birds Korea Yeoncheon, 2023

In 2020-2023, in spite of the pandemic:

WE have been surveying the Yeoncheon Imjin River Biosphere Reserve, monitoring cranes and finding internationally important concentrations of the globally Endangered Scaly-sided Merganser; conducting education programs and presenting at meetings. In September 2023, we will launch the “Spoonbills Project” – aimed at developing a safe space for education and tourism through habitat enhancement and restoration;
On Baekryeong / Baengnyeong Island, we worked with Trevor Rose and KFEM to install frog ladders; worked with SAVE International and students and professors at University of California Berkeley to develop alternative designs for “Bible Land”; and we have continued to conduct more bird counts – documenting several national high counts and new additions to the Korean list.
WE researched the cage-bird trade in the ROK under contract from Monitor, an overseas organisation;
On Jeju Island, we surveyed forest along the Bijarim Ro as part of a formal re-assessment of a road-widening project, presenting evidence in reports and as expert witness in a court case; and with local activists surveyed areas likely to be impacted by the proposed Jeju Second International Airport;
From 2020 to 2021, we surveyed the Hwaseong Wetlands Flyway Network Site as part of a project led by the EAAFP Secretariat and Hwaseong City; and in 2022 supported the development of two Vision Statements (first with SAVE International and UC Berkeley and second with the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust), as part of calls for Ramsar site designation and consideration as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Phase 2;
WE continued with surveys at several sites along the inner border area of Korea, together with or led by the Hanns Seidel Foundation (Korea office); and conducted our third national survey of wintering Scaly-sided Merganser in 2022;
WE joined in research at the proposed airport on Gadeok Do, Busan and contiue to support conservation activities at the much-degraded Saemangeum; and
WE also conducted training workshops; gave multiple presentations; published data-rich reports and peer-reviewed papers (e.g., on Hwaseong and on Scaly-sided Mergansers); updated our annotated national Bird Checklist; and supported the development of Korean language materials for eBird, including translating the Merlin app.