{"id":19113,"date":"2017-02-18T15:57:01","date_gmt":"2017-02-18T06:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=19113"},"modified":"2017-02-18T15:57:01","modified_gmt":"2017-02-18T06:57:01","slug":"various-sites-february-13-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=19113","title":{"rendered":"Various Sites, February 13-16"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bird News from Nial Moores with Dana Gardner, John and Mary Clark and Mike Friel.<\/p>\n

Highlights of a rapid visit to several key birding areas included single Pallas\u2019s<\/strong> and Relict Gulls<\/strong>, five Hazel Grouse<\/strong>, spectacular views of hundreds of cranes and >300,000 Baikal Teal<\/strong>; two Steller\u2019s Sea Eagle<\/strong>; and evidence of early spring movement in the form of goose flocks and a family party of Hooded Crane<\/strong> on the move, and Pallas\u2019s Rosefinch<\/strong> at two sites and a single group of 9-10 Siberian Accentor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Dawn at Cheorwon on 13th broke with excellent views of perhaps 100 Red-crowned<\/strong> and 300+ White-naped Cranes<\/strong> and was followed shortly after with good looks at Varied Tit<\/strong> and Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker<\/strong> and tantalizing views of 9-10 Siberian Accentor<\/strong> and more than half-dozen Long-tailed Rosefinch <\/strong>in addition to 200+ Rustic Bunting<\/strong>.\u00a0 \u00a0Also present was a single Eurasian Treecreeper<\/strong>.\u00a0 On the reservoir there, we found 45+ Baikal Teal<\/strong> and saw 50+ Cinereous Vulture<\/strong>.\u00a0 We finished the day a little to the south with good views of single Eurasian Eagle-Owl<\/strong> and Japanese Wagtail<\/strong>; several wiegoldi<\/em> Meadow Bunting<\/strong> and one adult and presumably one subadult White-tailed Eagle<\/strong> (or can adults sometimes have darker eyes like the lower bird in the image below?).<\/p>\n

\"rs-eagleowl08827\"Eurasian Eagle-Owl<\/strong>\u00a0Bubo bubo<\/i>\u00a0 \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

\"rs-whitetailedeagles08839\"White-tailed Eagles<\/strong> Haliaeetus albicilla<\/i>\u00a0 \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

In the national arboretum on the 14th<\/sup>, we found two Solitary Snipe<\/strong>, 2-4 Mandarin Duck<\/strong>, two Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker<\/strong>, 25+ Yellow-bellied Tit<\/strong> (!!) and at least three Pallas\u2019s Rosefinch<\/strong>.\u00a0 Other species of note included a cracking Naumann\u2019s Thrush<\/strong> and both Black<\/strong> and White-backed Woodpeckers<\/strong> heard.<\/p>\n

\"rs-greycap08872\"Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker<\/strong> Dendrocopos canicapillus<\/i> doerriesi<\/i> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

\"rs-naumanns08857\"Naumann’s Thrush<\/strong> Turdus naumanni<\/i>\u00a0 \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

\"rs-pallassrose08938\"<\/p>\n

\"rs-pallassrose08951\"Second Calendar-year male Pallas’s Rosefinch<\/strong> Carpodacus roseus<\/i> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

On the Han River in the afternoon, we then enjoyed good views of an immature Steller\u2019s Sea Eagle<\/strong>, followed for two of us by rather more distant views of a (the?) massive adult female.<\/p>\n

\"rs-stellersDSC09030\"Steller’s Sea Eagle<\/strong> Haliaeetus pelagicus<\/i> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

The 15th<\/sup> was a day of almost unbroken warm sunshine and almost calm conditions after a subzero dawn. At a reservoir south of Gunsan, perhaps 10-15,000 Baikal Teal<\/strong> were still present; and a short walk through rice-fields near there also found single Japanese Quail<\/strong> and Chestnut-eared Bunting<\/strong>, single Lesser White-fronted Goose<\/strong> and 2-3 Black-faced<\/strong> and half-a-dozen Pallas\u2019s Reed Buntings<\/strong>, with MF also seeing two distant probable Oriental Stork<\/strong>. In the Geum Estuary, the First-winter Relict Gull<\/strong> was still present, and although only a handful of Saunders\u2019s Gulls<\/strong> were seen, there were also 13 Swan Goose <\/strong>and three high-flying Hooded Crane<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"rs-relict-DSC09110\"<\/p>\n

\"rs-Relict9114\"Relict Gull<\/strong> Ichthyaetus relictus<\/i> (with Black-headed Gull<\/strong> Chroicocephalus ridibundus<\/i> in top image) \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

On the Geum River, probably 300,000 Baikal Teal<\/strong> provided a spectacular end to the day – made even more memorable when an adult Pallas\u2019s Gull<\/strong> overflew the flock!<\/p>\n

\"rs-baikals-DSC09046\"<\/p>\n

\"rs-baikalsDSC09152\"<\/p>\n

\"rs-baikals-DSC09192\"Baikal Teal<\/strong>\u00a0Anas formosa<\/i> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

\"rs-pallassPallas’s Gull<\/strong>\u00a0Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus<\/i> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

A few hours in the morning of the 16th at Namhansanseong included excellent views of a group of five Hazel Grouse<\/strong>, first feeding in trees, then on the ground, and by brief but close views of an adult male Pallas\u2019s Rosefinch<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"rs-hazelDSC09295\"<\/p>\n

\"rs-hazelGDSC09374\"Hazel Grouse<\/strong> Tetrastes bonasia<\/i> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

Other species of note there included two White-backed Woodpecker<\/strong> seen well; a few Naumann\u2019s Thrush<\/strong>; and a large group of up to 30 Azure-winged Magpie<\/strong> making a very wide range of vocalisations.<\/p>\n

\"rs-azurewingeds-DSC09392\"Azure-winged Magpie<\/strong>\u00a0 Cyanopica cyanus<\/i> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/p>\n

Initially thought to be mobbing calls, various clicking and begging notes were also made by a sub-group of 5-8 birds, including two that flattened themselves on the ground, with wings quivering and tail spread, while they were inspected by others in the same group \u2013 perhaps part of courtship and \/ or the establishment of social rank?<\/p>\n

All images taken with a handheld compact Sony digital camera through a truly superb Swarovski <\/a>scope…on a brand new Swarovski tripod!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bird News from Nial Moores with Dana Gardner, John and Mary Clark and Mike Friel. Highlights of a rapid visit to several key birding areas included single Pallas\u2019s and Relict Gulls, five Hazel Grouse, spectacular views of hundreds of cranes … read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":19120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[223,884],"class_list":["post-19113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-sightings","tag-baikal-teal","tag-pallass-gull"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19113","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\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19113"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19150,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19113\/revisions\/19150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}