{"id":25751,"date":"2022-04-19T23:08:41","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T14:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=25751"},"modified":"2022-04-19T23:08:42","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T14:08:42","slug":"early-spring-busan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=25751","title":{"rendered":"Early spring, Busan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bird News from Nial Moores<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rain and strong southerlies are the ideal conditions for falls of Japanese-bound migrants in Busan. This spring has remained stubbornly dry locally, however, with abundant sunshine and winds often tending to the east.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My personal first Pacific Swift<\/strong> of the year was on March 21st<\/sup>; and a survey of visible migration with Mr Won Jongtae on March 25th<\/sup> at Gadeok Island (proposed site for a new international airport<\/a> \u2013 requiring a huge reclamation project and the removal of a village and at least one mountain) had more of a \u00a0late winter than spring feel, with almost 800 Rook<\/strong> and 80 Eurasian Sparrowhawk<\/strong> counted passing north, with additional highlights provided by a small flock of Japanese Waxwing<\/strong>, one or two personata <\/em>Black-faced Bunting<\/strong> (soon to be split as Masked Bunting<\/strong> Emberiza personata<\/em>) and also my first Barn Swallows<\/strong> this year (Full eBird Checklist here)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 27th<\/sup>, highlight of the spring so far was found in steep hill woodland only 200 m from the Birds office: an exceptionally early Japanese Night Heron<\/strong>. The bird was found following the passage of a low pressure system which also dropped record-breaking numbers of Oriental Plover<\/em> on Jeju and up along the west coast.(Full eBird checklist here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the following week, spring chorus included the first local White\u2019s <\/strong>and Grey-backed Thrushes<\/strong> and on April 7th<\/sup>, \u00a0following some southerlies, heavy overcast and a two-minute rain shower, a few hours in Igidae also produced my first of the year Eastern Crowned Warblers<\/strong> (remarkably scarce so far this spring), \u00a0Korean Bush Warbler<\/strong>, Asian Stubtails<\/strong>, Grey<\/strong> and Brown-headed Thrushes<\/strong> (with several thrushes heard dropping in from on high), and Stejneger\u2019s Stonechat<\/strong> \u2013 until a decade ago quite regular in spring locally (Full eBird Checklist here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Grey-backed Thrush Turdus hortulorum<\/em> \ub418\uc9c0\ube60\uadc0 \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Stejneger’s<\/strong> \/ Amur Stonechat<\/strong> Saxicola stejnegeri<\/em> \uac80\uc740\ub531\uc0c8 \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The next visit to Igidae \u2013 on April 11th<\/sup> \u2013 was even more productive, with more thrushes heard dropping in from on-high, and a conservative count of 30 Grey Thrush<\/strong>. Additional expected migrants included a presumed Narcissus Flycatcher, a few Ashy Minivets<\/strong> and at least 50 Barn<\/strong> and two Red-rumped Swallow<\/strong>s. (Full eBird checklist here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Grey Thrush<\/strong> Turdus cardis<\/em> \uac80\uc740\uc9c0\ube60\uadc0 \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On April 12th<\/sup>, a few hours in Taejongdae \u2013 usually the easiest site locally for Japanese Robin<\/em> \u2013 produced very few birds indeed, with the very modest highlight a lone Blue-and-white Flycatcher<\/strong> (Full eBird Checklist here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Blue-and-white Flycatcher <\/strong>Cyanoptila cyanomelana<\/em> \ud070\uc720\ub9ac\uc0c8 \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Woodland in Taejongdae \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After a few days of moderate to strong easterlies, winds eventually fell much lighter and swung back to the west late on 16th\/ early on 17th. My last visit for a while to Igidae on April 17th<\/sup> produced highlights of single Sakhalin Leaf Warbler <\/strong>and Oriental Scops Owl<\/strong>, four Narcissus Flycatcher<\/strong>, a singing Siberian Blue Robin<\/strong> and a very brief view of a Siberian Rubythroat<\/strong>, rather scarce locally (Full eBird Checklist here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Second Calendar-year male Narcissus Flycatcher<\/strong> Ficedula narcissina<\/em> \ud669\uae08\uc0c8 \u00a9 Nial Moores<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bird News from Nial Moores Rain and strong southerlies are the ideal conditions for falls of Japanese-bound migrants in Busan. This spring has remained stubbornly dry locally, however, with abundant sunshine and winds often tending to the east. My personal … read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":25745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1099,1098,80],"class_list":["post-25751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-sightings","tag-east-busan","tag-gadeok-do","tag-igidae"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25751","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=25751"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25759,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25751\/revisions\/25759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}