{"id":30015,"date":"2025-01-20T09:35:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T00:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=30015"},"modified":"2025-01-20T09:40:37","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T00:40:37","slug":"eagles-gulls-and-eurasian-bittern-in-hwajinpo-towards-a-new-maritime-eco-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=30015","title":{"rendered":"Eagles, Gulls and Eurasian Bittern in Hwajinpo \u2013 towards a new maritime eco-park?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dr. Bernhard Seliger (Hanns-Seidel-Foundation Korea, Birds Korea)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two days with sunshine, but an icy wind in Goseong, where Hwajinpo after some rather poor years saw this year again thousands of gulls roosting and feeding on the still open areas. Due to the wind, the trip was poor in observations of passerines, which mainly stayed deep in the brushwood, but some nice and some spectacular observations could be made:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ajajin, eleven Harlequin ducks, a species never failing to gladden my heart. Also, at least 670 Great Crested Grebes on the water. Great Crested Grebes can be found in almost every bay in considerable numbers, and another count in Daejin the next morning resulted in more than 850.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Muam-Ri, around 30 Sanderlings. (They used to be in Ajajin, but that port now saw a lot of development and new tourism \u2013 also it is over-towered by huge new apartment complexes\u2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the evening in Hwajinpo, around 10.000 gulls (mostly Common gulls, but also large numbers of Mongolian gulls plus Black-tailed gulls) on the lake, a great spectacle to view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next morning, there where 12 White-tailed Eagles and one (immature) Steller\u00b4s Sea Eagle on the ice of Hwajinpo, eying the remaining (around 4-5000) gulls, which themselves looked in the bright morning sunlight like snowflakes from afar. Really a wonderful view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And finally, in the Hwajinpo wetland area a surprising and surprised Eurasian Bittern (a great view, but resulting in a really bad photo only, due to the surprise).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full lists of birds can be found here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check lists of January 15<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ajajin, Goam-Ri, Muam-Ri               https:\/\/ebird.org\/checklist\/S209675626<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Songam-Ri to Gonghyeongjin           https:\/\/ebird.org\/checklist\/S209675908<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ganseong Namcheon                         https:\/\/ebird.org\/checklist\/S209676706<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ganseong Bukcheon                          https:\/\/ebird.org\/checklist\/S209677321<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hwajingpo                                         https:\/\/ebird.org\/checklist\/S209677536<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check lists of January 16<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hwajinpo                                           https:\/\/ebird.org\/checklist\/S209678363<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Songjeong-Ri to Geonbongsa               https:\/\/ebird.org\/checklist\/S209678616<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geonbongsa                                        https:\/\/ebird.org\/checklist\/S209678780<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other things are less good to report: Large-scale construction for another railway into nowhere have begun, and they seem directly to lead through the Hwajinpo wetland area (though I am not entirely sure of it \u2013 the area was designated by small colored flags and the County told me these were for planning related to the railway). In Songjeong-Ri, a huge new tunnel will be built. Not sure, if ever this railway will be used, though, given the bad relations to the North.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, some other areas saw a continued decline, in particular Namcheon and Bukcheon area of Ganseong, where new buildings, and park-like areas reduced habitat, plus in Namcheon some (probably not-legal?) ice fishing in the most sensitive reed area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goseong started with preparation and an application for a new National Maritime Eco-Park in Hwajinpo. The size of park should be 5,10 km2<\/sup>, out of which 1,04 km2<\/sup> is maritime area, 1,67 km2 is land and 2,39 km2<\/sup> is the lagoon lake area.  Beside the designation, which in itself does not mean a lot, it will be interesting to see what that exactly means. According to the county, this should lead to sustainable conservation and rehabilitation of maritime ecological systems, sustainable management of maritime biodiversity and sustainable use of maritime resources. The amount the county hopes to receive from the central government is potentially huge, and over 2000 new jobs should be created. While being happy to have Goseong upgraded \u2013 it really should have been long ago included into the IUCN\u00b4s IBA, but has not been due to reasons with the Korean side difficult to understand \u2013 the ecological impact can be either positive or negative. If large-scale investment mainly means new infrastructure for tourism, then the remaining charm of the county, as well as the remaining strength in biodiversity, will get lost. So, it depends on the way, the investment funds are used, and this is never easy to predict in Korea. The whole application process is competitive, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries will only select one project among various contenders. I hope, if Goseong is selected, it will make the right choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, however this application ends, definitely Goseong deserves an important place as a hotspot of biodiversity on the Korean Peninsula.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Harlequin Ducks Histrionicus histrionicus in Ajajin (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sanderlings Calidris alba in Muam-Ri (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Second-calendar year Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus  (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An immature Steller\u00b4s Sea Eagle Haliaeetus pelagicus  together with a White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla at Hwajinpo lake. 12 White-tailed Eagles together made quite a spectacular view in the morning. (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla at Hwajinpo lake (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thousands of gulls on Hwajinpo, roosting and feeding in the few open areas \u2013 an amazing view. (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eurasian Bittern Botaurus stellaris<\/em> flying off after we both were surprised to meet in the reeds in the Hwajinpo wetland park (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eastern Buzzard Buteo japonicus  in Ganseong Namcheon area. Unfortunately, development is very rapid there, reduced year by year the habitat for birds. (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Construction of the new railway linking (purportedly) South and North Korea\u00b4s railway lines (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Bernhard Seliger (Hanns-Seidel-Foundation Korea, Birds Korea) Two days with sunshine, but an icy wind in Goseong, where Hwajinpo after some rather poor years saw this year again thousands of gulls roosting and feeding on the still open areas. Due … read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":30020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30015","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\/30015","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\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30015"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30028,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30015\/revisions\/30028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}