{"id":30040,"date":"2025-01-24T15:42:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T06:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=30040"},"modified":"2025-01-24T15:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T06:49:10","slug":"red-tailed-shrike-lesse-white-fronted-goose-and-more-in-the-fields-of-gimpo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=30040","title":{"rendered":"Red-tailed shrike, Lesser White-fronted goose and more in the fields of Gimpo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(Dr. Bernhard Seliger and Dr. Hyun-Ah Choi, Hanns-Seidel-Foundation Korea and Birds Korea, with Dr. Nial Moores, Director, Birds Korea,)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 22nd<\/sup>, a whole day in the fields of Gimpo (Siam wetland, and the area around Yudo islet in the Han River estuary) brought some remarkable results and, after a longer hiatus, some great talks with Dr. Moores on birds and their habitats\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One highlight was, after a long wait at the bird hide and cages of the local Wild Bird Society at Siam wetland, the appearance of the Red-tailed shrike. A more detailed article on this bird, the first of its kind recorded in South Korea, will soon appear on this blog. It had been described for some weeks now by some birders. The bird first hid in the undergrowth, but then was remarkably relaxed with a couple of bird watchers looking for it (some of them also Birds Korea members, which was very pleasant!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, there were almost 3800 Greater White-fronted geese, and almost 300 Tundra Bean geese, with around 100 Mallards and Spot-billed ducks each mixed in. Other birds in the area included an Eurasian spoonbill, a single White-tailed eagle and an overflying flock of around 50 Buff-bellied (Siberian) pipits. In the river, among a few other birds two Black-headed gulls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Soktan-ri area, a nice mix of raptors (another White-tailed eagle, a Eurasian Sparrowhawk, two Hen Harriers, a Peregrine falcon, four Eastern buzzards and a Common Kestrel), plus one Chinese grey shrike and four Bull-headed shrikes. The sun coming out and the lack of wind made it a nice day for these birds to come out of their hidings. Additionally, around 800 Greater White-fronted geese, 400 Tundra bean geese and 55 Taiga bean geese in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Gaegok-ri area a long-time dream came true \u2013 finally, we found a Lesser White-fronted goose in the area, together with 250 Greater White-fronted geese and 130 Tundra bean geese. It was particularly nice of the LWFG to join some Tundra bean geese for a comparison of heights (without which we probably would not have seen it). Finally, the Han river estuary around Yudo islet: breeding of the cormorants (which have here one of their large breeding colonies in Korea) did not yet begin. Here, 400 Greater White-fronted geese, around 200 Tundra bean geese and at least one Taiga bean goose. Also, five eagles (three of them around Yudo islet) and a flock of 35 Eurasian skylarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can find the complete record of birds on ebird in the following lists:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siam wetland area\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 https:\/\/ebird.org\/checklist\/S210436052<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soktan-ri area (East of Aegibong) \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 https:\/\/ebird.org\/checklist\/S210249548<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaegok-ri area (West of Aegibong) https:\/\/ebird.org\/checklist\/S210231861<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yonga-ri area (around Yudo islet) \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 https:\/\/ebird.org\/checklist\/S210249551<\/a>

Some remarks on the habitat and ecological importance of the area: We do surveys there since 2018 \u2013 first for Gimpo city for two years, and now more or less regularly every one-two months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The area is not covered by the winter bird census (i.e. birds there do not appear in the Asian Waterbird Census). While the area is great and always there is something new to detect, habitat and biodiversity is reduced unfortunately by something very familiar all over South Korea: the proto-industrialization of the landscape (hothouses and ginseng fields as well as buildings for small agro-industries, life-stock etc. increasing, more farming under plastic planes), but in particular concrete trenches, often much too steep for smaller animals like small mammals and in particular amphibians to overcome them, cut through the landscape. This time, another huge block of fields was covered with these concrete trenches. I wonder if there is any data how much the concrete will improve productivity of agriculture (if at all\u2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, thankful to have been there now and seen all these wonderful birds!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

1: Red-tailed Shrike or Turkestan shrike Lanius phoenicuroides<\/em> \u2013 the first of its kind on the Korean Peninsula! (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

2: Geese in the Siam wetland area \u2013 most of these geese are Greater White-Fronted Geese, with a sprinkling of Tundra Bean geese, as well as Mallards and Spot-bill ducks. (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

3: Chinese Grey shrike Lanius sphenocercus<\/em> (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

4: What a shrikey day! Beside the fantastic records of the Red-tailed shrike and the Chinese grey shrike also seven Bull-headed shrikes Lanius Bucephalus<\/em> like this one\u2026 (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

A Lesser White-fronted Goose Anser erythropus<\/em>\u00a0(right) with a Tundra Bean goose Anser serrirostris (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Lesser White-fronted Goose Anser erythropus<\/em>\u00a0– a young bird, with the white-front barely developed (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A slightly strangely roosting White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla<\/em> (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Re-organization of the landscape \u2013 I wonder, if ever the economic feasibility of these projects has been measured. Definitely, each time an area is put into concrete like this (often also going along with enlarging the usually rather small ways between the rice paddies, which nevertheless served the low traffic in the border area very well), it is a massive reduction of biodiversity. Hope, this will end one day! (\u00a9 Bernhard Seliger)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Dr. Bernhard Seliger and Dr. Hyun-Ah Choi, Hanns-Seidel-Foundation Korea and Birds Korea, with Dr. Nial Moores, Director, Birds Korea,) On January 22nd, a whole day in the fields of Gimpo (Siam wetland, and the area around Yudo islet in the … read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":30046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30040","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\/30040","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=30040"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30050,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30040\/revisions\/30050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}