{"id":17099,"date":"2015-11-18T12:37:15","date_gmt":"2015-11-18T03:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=17099"},"modified":"2015-11-19T12:59:45","modified_gmt":"2015-11-19T03:59:45","slug":"suncheon-october-26-november-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=17099","title":{"rendered":"Suncheon, October 26 \u2013 November 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"1<\/a>

Hen Harrier <\/strong>Circus cyaneus\u00a0<\/em>\u00a9 Matt Poll<\/p><\/div>\n

\"2<\/a>

Long-eared Owl<\/strong> Asio otus\u00a0<\/em>\u00a9 Matt Poll<\/p><\/div>\n

\"3<\/a>

Peregrine Falcon<\/strong> Falco peregrinus\u00a0<\/em>\u00a9 Matt Poll<\/p><\/div>\n

\"4<\/a>

Chestnut-eared Bunting<\/strong> Emberiza fucata\u00a0<\/em>\u00a9 Matt Poll<\/p><\/div>\n

\"5<\/a>

Eurasian Spoonbill<\/strong> Platalea leucorodia\u00a0<\/em>\u00a9 Matt Poll<\/p><\/div>\n

On the chilly morning of October 30th<\/sup>, countable Hooded Cranes<\/strong> numbered about 250, with 14 Eurasian Spoonbills<\/strong> nearby.\u00a0 Yellow-Throated Buntings<\/strong> have arrived at the bay, with a half-dozen active individuals being the first I\u2019ve noted at this site.<\/p>\n

The following day, more than 400 Hooded Cranes<\/strong> could be seen, and a reddish Eastern Buzzard<\/strong> feeding in a field was my first of the season.\u00a0 Several Heuglin\u2019s Gull<\/strong> were mixed in with more numerous Vega<\/strong>, Black-headed<\/strong>, and Black-tailed Gulls<\/strong>, and a restless flock of at least 20 Grey-capped Greenfinch<\/strong> was seen circling the area.<\/p>\n

The morning of November 3rd<\/sup> was a grim one at the bay, with hazy skies and ever-expanding construction destroying yet more habitat.\u00a0 Aside from the two huge \u2018pit\u2019 sites, the wonderful reedy\/scrubby ditches among the rice fields are being systematically ripped up, with the natural banks being replaced by concrete blocks.\u00a0 Notable bird sightings included 30+ Far Eastern Skylarks<\/strong> seen or heard, nine Whooper Swans<\/strong>, 400+ Hooded Cranes<\/strong>, now 12-15 Yellow-Throated Buntings<\/strong> claiming a narrow stretch of coastal scrub, and nine White-Cheeked Starlings<\/strong> in a nearby village<\/p>\n

Three days later, the highlight was a Eurasian Bittern<\/strong> lazily flushing from its favored \u2018froggy\u2019 spot.\u00a0 A Hen Harrier<\/strong> drifted lazily near a meowing Northern Lapwing<\/strong> in a rice stubble field – this was the first I\u2019ve seen of both species this autumn.\u00a0 Nearby, three Chestnut-eared Bunting<\/strong> were being closely watched by a Peregrine Falcon<\/strong>, and I noted my first four Pallas\u2019s Reed Buntings<\/strong> since spring.<\/p>\n

On November 12th<\/sup> at a hilly reservoir close to my apartment, some avian signs of winter appeared in the form of three Rustic Buntings<\/strong> and four Hawfinch<\/strong>, all working a patch of fruiting trees.<\/p>\n

At \u2018Flying Squirrel Mountain\u2019 two days later, more signs of winter with about ten Goldcrests<\/strong> mixed up with the expected assortment of tits and woodpeckers.\u00a0 Several groups of 20-40 Eurasian Siskins<\/strong> were seen or heard as they flew past the mountainside.\u00a0 In one group of flying Siskins, I caught a quick glimpse of a finch with much lighter (almost white?) rump than the birds around it.\u00a0 Further down the mountain, at least 30 noisy Hawfinch<\/strong> were seen in berry-laden trees near some graves.<\/p>\n

November 15th was a dynamic morning at Suncheon Bay. \u00a0With construction crews taking a rare day off, I was kept busy logging 55 species, with a healthy number of birds of prey amongst them.\u00a0 A plump Northern Goshawk<\/strong> sat perched in a dead tree, before heading off over the rice stubble fields.\u00a0 When I got closer to where the Goshawk had been perched, I was surprised to have a Long-eared Owl<\/strong> burst out from a low clump of trees and fly past my head, before briefly settling in another nearby low tree.\u00a0 Was it being hunted by the Goshawk?\u00a0 The Goshawk perch was soon taken up by a Peregrine Falcon<\/strong>, again closely watching the scrubby reed patch favoured by Chestnut-eared Buntings<\/strong>.\u00a0 This was soon sent off by a Hen Harrier<\/strong>, and 30 minutes later, a Common Kestrel<\/strong> was seen on the same perch.\u00a0 An Eastern Buzzard<\/strong> and a Eurasian Sparrowhawk<\/strong> later rounded out the raptor-themed morning. \u00a0\u00a0Shortly after all of this action, a rasping call brought my attention to a Light-vented Bulbul<\/strong> overhead.\u00a0 It was well-watched as it flew east across the bay toward the hills behind the park.\u00a0 This is the first Light-vented Bulbul<\/strong> I\u2019ve seen in Suncheon.<\/p>\n

Also seen at the bay were an extremely skulking Oriental Reed Warbler<\/strong> (very late record?), several Chestnut-eared<\/strong> and Black-faced Buntings<\/strong>, and at least a dozen Pallas\u2019s Reed Bunting<\/strong>.\u00a0 A few White Wagtails<\/strong> and Olive-backed Pipits<\/strong> were milling about in most spots, and Far Eastern Skylarks<\/strong> could be heard overhead at all times.\u00a0 On the mud flats, four Eurasian Spoonbills<\/strong> and six Saunders\u2019s Gulls<\/strong> were seen feeding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bird News from Matt Poll On the chilly morning of October 30th, countable Hooded Cranes numbered about 250, with 14 Eurasian Spoonbills nearby.\u00a0 Yellow-Throated Buntings have arrived at the bay, with a half-dozen active individuals being the first I\u2019ve noted … read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":17101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[139],"class_list":["post-17099","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\/17099","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=17099"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17120,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17099\/revisions\/17120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}