{"id":16997,"date":"2015-10-27T10:48:24","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T01:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=16997"},"modified":"2015-10-31T23:11:01","modified_gmt":"2015-10-31T14:11:01","slug":"suncheon-october-12-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=16997","title":{"rendered":"Suncheon, October 12-25"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bird News from Matt Poll<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"?????????????\"<\/a>

“Before” \u00a0\u00a9 Matt Poll<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2<\/a>

“After” \u00a0\u00a9 Matt Poll<\/p><\/div>\n

\"4<\/a>

Eastern Water Rail \u00a0Rallus indicus\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a9 Matt Poll<\/p><\/div>\n

\"3<\/a>

Eastern Water Rail Rallus indicus<\/em><\/strong> \u00a9 Matt Poll<\/p><\/div>\n

\"5<\/a>

Eastern Water Rail \u00a0Rallus indicus\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a9 Matt Poll<\/p><\/div>\n

\"6<\/a>

Siberian Rubythroat \u00a0Calliope calliope\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a9 Matt Poll<\/p><\/div>\n

\"7<\/a>

Yellow-breasted Bunting \u00a0Emberiza aureola\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a9 Matt Poll<\/p><\/div>\n

\"8<\/a>

Hooded Crane \u00a0Grus monacha\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a9 Matt Poll<\/p><\/div>\n

\"9<\/a>

Varied Tit \u00a0Sittiparus varius\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a9 Matt Poll<\/p><\/div>\n

The three Amur Falcons<\/strong> that had been fixtures on the power lines near Suncheon Bay for a week were joined by a fourth on October 15th<\/sup>, but the best bird of the day by far was an Eastern Water Rail<\/strong> skulking in a reedy ditch.\u00a0 After catching a quick \u2018Moorhen-like\u2019 view of it scuttling to cover, I lay on the ground, and after a few minutes, the bird came out and fed among the reeds.\u00a0 I spent an amazing 30 minutes watching it sneak around the murky reedscape.\u00a0 At times it vanished, only to burst suddenly from cover and comically skid to a stop, like a reluctant performer being pushed on stage.<\/p>\n

Also seen in fields were six Far Eastern Skylarks<\/strong>, still about 20 Barn Swallows<\/strong>, 15 Stejneger\u2019s Stonechat<\/strong>, two Far Eastern Cisticola<\/strong>, the first Grey-capped Greenfinch<\/strong> I have seen for quite some months, and at least ten Black-faced Buntings<\/strong>.\u00a0 The day was also \u2018Peak Motacilli-day\u2019, with eight pipit and wagtail species observed.\u00a0 The seafront saw an influx of Eurasian Magpies<\/strong>, with over 20 seen milling about the area restlessly.<\/p>\n

Amazingly, three days later another Eastern Water Rail<\/strong> (or the same one?!) was spotted in the morning gloom, at a site almost 2 km from first.\u00a0 This bird was seen as it walked casually along a trail just after dawn.\u00a0 It melted into a reedbed, but returned cautiously several minutes later, and we watched each other for five minutes.<\/p>\n

Other observations included four Amur Falcon<\/strong>s still, a dozen Far Eastern Skylark<\/strong>, a Black-browed Reed Warbler<\/strong>, and two relatively confiding Yellow-breasted Buntings<\/strong>.\u00a0 There was a notable absence of swallows and martins overhead.\u00a0 A probable Middendorff\u2019s Warbler<\/strong> was briefly observed as it jumped around near the ground in a muddy patch of reeds.\u00a0 Thanks as always to my fellow Birds Koreans for helping me puzzle through this tricky ID.<\/p>\n

On October 23rd<\/sup>, Hooded Cranes<\/strong> returned to Suncheon Bay, with a total of 29 seen drifting overhead restlessly, unable to find a quiet field to land in for quite some time.\u00a0 The other highlight of the day was an inquisitive Siberian Rubythroat<\/strong>, that watched me from several metres away as I staged an unsuccessful stakeout in an effort to re-find the original Eastern Water Rail.\u00a0 Other notable birds at the bay today included two Bean Geese<\/strong>, perhaps 70 Oriental Turtle Doves<\/strong>, 20+ Far Eastern Skylarks<\/strong>, a similar number of Chinese Penduline Tits<\/strong> heard from the reeds, and nine Grey-capped Greenfinch<\/strong> perched on wires.<\/p>\n

Dawn on October 25th<\/sup> saw Hooded Crane<\/strong>\u00a0numbers up to 38, eight flyby Eurasian Spoonbills<\/strong>, and low double-digit number of Greater White-fronted Goose<\/strong> and Bean Goose<\/strong>.\u00a0 Later in the morning, an influx of ducks was noted on and around the bay, with 200+ Spot-billed Ducks<\/strong> and half that number of Mallards<\/strong>, with several Common Pochard<\/strong> and Northern Pintails<\/strong> on the periphery.\u00a0 Still plentiful were Far Eastern Skylarks<\/strong>, but there was a paucity of pipit species, with only Olive-backed<\/strong> seen today.\u00a0 Two quick flybys had me scratching my head on the way out \u2013 a distant unidentified buteo-looking raptor drifting past in bad light, then a small, light starling.\u00a0 Late Chestnut-cheeked perhaps?<\/p>\n

This week, both Eastern Water Rail sites have been heavily disturbed\/destroyed by the relentless construction that has been steadily trashing some of the most productive habitat I\u2019ve ever seen for residents and staging migrants.\u00a0 Perhaps the rails were going to overwinter, but it\u2019s doubtful if they are still there now, what with the dump-trucks rumbling by several feet away every few minutes.\u00a0 So far, a formerly quiet stretch of coastal rice fields has had four massive pits (each at least the size of a football pitch, or bigger) gouged out, with two being filled in with concrete already.\u00a0 Is this to make way for more solar panels that no one here wants?\u00a0 It is massively frustrating and depressing to watch the destruction of such amazing habitat.\u00a0 \u201cSuncheon Green City\u201d indeed.<\/p>\n

Away from the bay, the hills around town are bustling with a healthy assortment of tits, but no sign of winter finches or thrushes yet. A very hazy day (hazy all week) on the 24th<\/sup>, with two Japanese Wagtails<\/strong> spotted on a downtown stream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bird News from Matt Poll   The three Amur Falcons that had been fixtures on the power lines near Suncheon Bay for a week were joined by a fourth on October 15th, but the best bird of the day by … read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":17023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[139],"class_list":["post-16997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-sightings","tag-suncheon-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16997"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17025,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16997\/revisions\/17025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}