{"id":25555,"date":"2022-02-14T12:43:33","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T03:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=25555"},"modified":"2022-02-14T12:43:34","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T03:43:34","slug":"yeoncheon-imjin-river-biosphere-reserve-february-8th-12th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=25555","title":{"rendered":"Yeoncheon Imjin River Biosphere Reserve: February 8th-12th"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Bird News from Nial Moores, Bernhard Seliger, Baek Seung-Kwang, Lee Su-Young and Jang Ryang (with a team from the EAAFP Secretariat on 11th<\/sup>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hantan River, Yeoncheon Imjin River Biosphere Reserve \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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CCZ, Yeoncheon Imjin River Biosphere Reserve<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Funded variously on different dates by the Hanns Seidel Foundation and Yeoncheon County, detailed data from this research along the rivers and in the rice-fields of the Biosphere Reserve will be contained in reports that will be made freely available to Birds Korea members after publication. Selected birding highlights, in addition to Ramsar-defined internationally important concentrations of Taiga Bean Goose<\/strong>, Greater Whiter-fronted Goose<\/strong>, Red-crowned Crane<\/strong> and White-naped Crane<\/strong>, from research in mid-February in the Yeoncheon Imjin River Biosphere Reserve included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cackling Goose<\/strong> Branta hutchinsii taverneri<\/em> \uce90\ub098\ub2e4\uae30\ub7ec\uae30. One in a flock of Greater White-fronted Geese on 8th<\/sup> (with ID from images supported on FB by Richard Crossley). This appears to be about only the fourth (?) record of taverneri<\/em> in the ROK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Taverner’s” Cackling Goose<\/strong> (Top \u00a9 Bernhard Seliger; remaining images \u00a9 Nial Moores)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Greylag Goose<\/strong> Anser anser<\/em> \ud68c\uc0c9\uae30\ub7ec\uae30. One distinctively odd-looking, worn-plumaged Second or Third Calendar-year (?), perhaps with some hybrid influence, in a flock of Greater White-fronted Geese on 11th<\/sup>. \u00a0Odd features included obvious dark on the nail (shown by only between 1 bird in 10 or 20 in images of \u201cSiberian\u201d Greylag in Cornell\u2019s Birds of the World image gallery); slight orangey tones basally to the otherwise pink bill; and very worn, brown tones on the nape and upperparts (only shared with birds in very few online images, mostly in March or mid-summer).\u00a0 Wild Greylag is genuinely rare in Korea (until recently, the species was not recorded annually \u2013 though there have been perhaps 5-7 this winter alone); and although domesticated Greylags are sometimes found in the wild, this bird did not show any of the expected anomalous structural or plumage features of a domesticated bird. What are the odds of a \u201cpure\u201d wild Greylag showing three odd features like this, however? Comments are welcome!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Greylag Goose<\/strong> (or hybrid<\/strong>?) \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Whooper Swan <\/strong>Cygnus cygnus<\/em> \ud070\uace0\ub2c8. Two on the Imjin River on 10th<\/sup> hinted at the start of northward migration (as did increases in several duck species).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Whooper Swan<\/strong> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Scaly-sided Merganser<\/strong> Mergus squamatus<\/em> \ud638\uc0ac\ube44\uc624\ub9ac. Three females in total (tentatively aged as one adult and two First-winters).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Scaly-sided Merganser<\/strong> \u00a9 Bernhard Seliger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hill Pigeon<\/strong> Columba rupestris<\/em> \ub0ad\ube44\ub458\uae30. The highest count was 32 in the CCZ on 12th<\/sup>, by Birds Korea Yeoncheon. Yeoncheon Imjin River Biosphere Reserve currently supports the largest and only completely self-sustaining flock in the ROK (even though the species is fairly common in the DPRK).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hill Pigeon <\/strong>\u00a9 Baek Seung-Kwang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Long-billed Plover <\/strong>Charadrius placidus<\/em> \ud770\ubaa9\ubb3c\ub5bc\uc0c8. Found along two rivers at several locations, including one pair apparently starting courtship display \u2013 no doubt stimulated by spring-like weather (with a lowest low of -12C, soaring to a high of +10C on 11th<\/sup>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Long-billed Plover<\/strong> \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Golden Eagle<\/strong> Aquila chrysaetos<\/em> \uac80\ub3c5\uc218\ub9ac. One adult on 8th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As elsewhere this almost snowless winter (so far), we saw very small numbers of landbirds \u2013 though did enjoy excellent views of hordes of Vinous-throated Parrotbills<\/strong>, and flocks of Meadow<\/strong>, Rustic<\/strong> and Yellow-throated Buntings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Meadow Bunting<\/strong> Emberiza cioides<\/em> \uba67\uc0c8 \u00a9 Bernhard Seliger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Yellow-throated Bunting<\/strong> Emberiza elegans<\/em> \ub178\ub791\ud131\uba67\uc0c8 \u00a9 Bernhard Seliger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bird News from Nial Moores, Bernhard Seliger, Baek Seung-Kwang, Lee Su-Young and Jang Ryang (with a team from the EAAFP Secretariat on 11th). Funded variously on different dates by the Hanns Seidel Foundation and Yeoncheon County, detailed data from this … read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":25577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-sightings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25555","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=25555"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25578,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25555\/revisions\/25578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}