Day One of a five-day survey of sites that have held Scaly-sided Merganser<\/strong> Mergus squamatus<\/i> found a lot of ongoing construction, and no scalies. Happily, a quick 3 hours birding in subzero temperatures on the Guryongpo Peninsula was much more interesting. The first stop, in Seokpyeong Village, found two Light-vented Bulbul<\/b> sunning themselves in some berry-laden trees. Along the coastline, in among a large number of Slaty-backed Gull<\/b> (three main groups contained at least 1500 birds) were two Glaucous-winged Gull<\/b> and a couple of fascinating ID challenges!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The first was a white-winged gull…It was clearly smaller than most (or even all) of the vegae<\/i>, and images taken (taken through an ageing Nikon coolpix and a brand-new set of Swarovski gear \u2013 on which much more in a later post!) show its fairly rounded head shape and bill pattern more suggestive of Iceland<\/b> than Glaucous Gull<\/b>. Its primaries showed no dark markings. <\/p>\n \n \n \nSuch \u201cglaucoides<\/em>-types\u201d appear to be annual in the ROK. Is this one an Iceland? A small (female) barrovianus<\/i> Glaucous with an atypical bill pattern? Or is it one of the enigmatic birds described in Malling Olsen\u2019s Gulls<\/i> (according to which \u201cAn undescribed taxon might occur in N Russia:\u2026smaller, tamer adults\u2026brighter eye-ring and yellower iris; accompanied by smaller, grey immatures\u2026a pair found nesting\u2026female had bright lemon iris, orange orbital ring and measurements similar to large Iceland Gull\u2026Such birds were even found at four sites in Novaja Zemlja\u201d P.216, First edition). How too about the bird identified as an Iceland Gull<\/strong> in the Birds Korea gallery (at: http:\/\/www.birdskorea.org\/Gallery\/Species\/BK-GA-Larus-glaucoides.shtml<\/a>)?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The second ID challenge appeared at first sight to be a fairly straightforward adult American Herring Gull<\/strong> (recorded scarcely annually in the ROK).It was heavyset and glaucous-pale on the saddle (like most such adults here \u2013 presumably as from the paler, western part of the population); dirty-brown collared, with primaries showing much black and thick white tips; had very pale eyes (with orangey eye-ring), and a pale-based bill with a fairly obvious dark mark. However, the undersides of the primaries were pale grey, and there was some grey admixed in the primary black suggesting a hybrid origin. <\/p>\n \n \n \n \nHybrid American Herring<\/b> and Glaucous Gull<\/b> have been recorded in North America and Europe. Is this the explanation for this striking individual? As with the white-winged gull above \u2013 all comments welcome!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Other birds of note in the short time available found on rough seas included two Black Brant<\/b>, 38 Rhinoceros Auklet<\/b> but only 17 Ancient Murrelet<\/b>, 50 Harlequin Duck<\/b>, at least 500 Pacific Loon <\/b>and my personal highest day count to date of Red-breasted Merganser<\/b> \u2013 with at least 1600 present.<\/p>\n \n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bird News from Nial Moores and Park Meena Gyeongju and Guryongpo Peninsula, February 3rd Day One of a five-day survey of sites that have held Scaly-sided Merganser Mergus squamatus found a lot of ongoing construction, and no scalies. Happily, a … read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[137,112],"class_list":["post-3089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bird-sightings","tag-gulls","tag-scaly-sided-merganser"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3089"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8382,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions\/8382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"iceland](\"http:\/\/www.charliesbirdblog.com\/%7Echarlie\/BirdsKorea09Feb12\/whitewing_feb_2012x600.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"iceland](\"http:\/\/www.charliesbirdblog.com\/%7Echarlie\/BirdsKorea09Feb12\/fwhitewing2_feb2012x500.jpg\")
Iceland or Glaucous Gull? Photos Nial Moores\/Birds Korea
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Iceland or Glaucous Gull? Photos Nial Moores\/Birds Korea
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\nPacific Loon. Photo Nial Moores\/Birds Korea
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