{"id":17608,"date":"2016-01-29T13:30:57","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T04:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=17608"},"modified":"2016-01-29T13:30:57","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T04:30:57","slug":"east-coast-and-taebaek-january-11-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=17608","title":{"rendered":"East Coast and Taebaek, January 11-15"},"content":{"rendered":"

Selected Bird News from Nial Moores and Jason Loghry<\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of research into biodiversity conservation in the inner border region of Korea with the Hanns Seidel Foundation (Korea), we surveyed marine preferential bird species (\u201cmarine birds\u201d) along parts of the east coast, to compare abundance and distribution in Goseong County and other areas. We surveyed the Guryongpo Peninsula on the 11th<\/sup>; much of the Yeongdeok coast, north to Hupo, on 12th<\/sup>; and parts of the coast north from Gangneung on the 13th<\/sup>, including Ayajin and the headland above Geojin. On 14th<\/sup>, we counted marine birds moving off from the wonderful January Pension from 15 minutes before dawn for approximately two hours; counted from the boat out of Daejin for 3.5 hours in suddenly worsening conditions with Dr. Bernhard Seliger and Ms. Youn from the Hanns Seidel Foundation; and then spent some time counting and checking through the huge mass of gulls present in the area (with a staggering 22,000 plus gulls between Daejin and a little south of Geojin).<\/p>\n

\"survey<\/a><\/p>\n

\"survey<\/a>Boat-based survey from Daejin, with Hanns Seidel’s Dr Bernhard Seliger with camera at the ready! \u00a9 Jason Loghry<\/p>\n

On 14th<\/sup>, we then visited the apparently reliable but hard-to-access Asian Rosyfinch<\/strong> site near Taebaek on our way back to Busan and Gimhae.<\/p>\n

\"td24-asianrosysite_rs\"<\/a>Asian Rosy Finch habitat, near Taebaek (much caution is required on the access road) \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In total, we found eight (!) species of alcid, and good numbers of loons and grebes.<\/p>\n

Although almost all time and effort was focused on marine birds, we also did very rapid stops at a coastal site for Russet Sparrow<\/strong> (18 counted by JL) and a couple of usually excellent lakes in Gangneung and Sokcho. Surprisingly, they looked to be almost devoid of birds, with only a handful of Mallard<\/strong>, Eastern Spot-billed Duck, Common Goldeneye <\/strong>and Greater Scaup<\/strong> present – a few of which were rather approachable.<\/p>\n

\"td10-espotbilledduck_gangneung_jan13_2016\"<\/a>Eastern Spot-billed Duck<\/strong> Anas zonorhyncha<\/em> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

\"survey<\/a>\u00a0 Greater Scaup<\/strong> Aythya marila<\/em> \u00a9 Jason Loghry<\/p>\n

\"survey<\/a>Common Goldeneye<\/strong> Bucephala clangula<\/em> \u00a9 Jason Loghry<\/p>\n

Notable counts and highlights included:<\/p>\n