{"id":518,"date":"2011-05-04T03:21:29","date_gmt":"2011-05-03T18:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=518"},"modified":"2013-04-16T20:33:31","modified_gmt":"2013-04-16T11:33:31","slug":"april-22-28-eocheong-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/?p=518","title":{"rendered":"Eocheong Island, April 22-28"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 28, Eocheong Island<\/strong>
\nUnder clear skies, an afternoon survey of the main southern part of the island with Mr. Ju Yung-Ki produced 63 species, with the personal first Narcissus Flycatcher<\/strong> and Northern House Martin<\/strong> of the spring, three Eurasian Wryneck<\/strong>, a glimpse of the Little Whimbrel,<\/strong> excellent views of a White\u2019s Thrush<\/strong> and a Chinese Blackbird<\/strong>, and best of all a Grey-tailed Tattler<\/strong> sporting two blue leg-flags (one each on the tibia and tarsus of the right leg), and a metal ring on the left tibia \u2013 perhaps the first banded bird seen here since a (probably Hong Kong-banded) White-shouldered Starling in 2003 or 2004.<\/p>\n

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\nChinese Blackbird<\/b> Turdus merula mandarinus<\/i>. Photo © Nial Moores\/Birds Korea
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April 27, Eocheong Island<\/strong>
\nThe promised rain failed to materialise (again) and a foggy, yellow dusty morning cleared to sunshine for much of the rest of the day. Many fewer birds than on the 26th, though several more new species for the spring including a Long-toed Stint<\/strong> (possibly the bird heard arriving last night?), two Grey Thrush<\/strong> and three Chinese Blackbird<\/strong> (making for an eight-thrush-species day), and a flock of ten starlings containing several White-Cheekeds<\/strong>, a Red-billed<\/strong>, two Daurian<\/strong> and two White-shouldered Starlings<\/strong> (male and female) \u2013 all sadly when still too murky to even attempt digiscoping. Other species of note included at least two Citrine Wagtail<\/strong> still and the first bird of the morning seen over the minbak – a Little Whimbrel<\/strong> (probably the same as one heard yesterday) which was later re-found by the school.<\/p>\n

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\nLittle Whimbrel<\/b> Numenius minutus<\/i>. Photo © Nial Moores\/Birds Korea
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April 26, Eocheong Island<\/strong>
\nFinally, a big day \u2013 and a long one, starting before dawn and finishing a little before midnight! 97 species and 3500 birds logged. With a heavy overcast, occasional rain spots (but no heavy rain as promised) and strong SW winds, several species were heard coming in from before first light, and this movement continued for a couple of hours in the morning. Between 0610 and 0750, at least 2150 passerines were counted coming in off the sea from the southwest, with most numerous Dusky Thrush<\/strong> (840), Pale Thrush<\/strong> (330), Brambling<\/strong> (240) and Grey-backed Thrush<\/strong> (155). Many of these (except Brambling) appeared to carry on northeast towards Weiyeon Island, (where a team of overseas birders should have just arrived for a week or more). Shortly after, the most abundant grounded species on Eocheong Island itself included Brambling<\/strong> (220), Black-faced Bunting<\/strong> (162) and Yellow-browed Bunting<\/strong> (70), while the most unusual was a female-type Blue-and-White Flycatcher<\/strong> with clear bright blue on the wing coverts, just visible in the very grimy image (does anyone know if this is a feature regularly shown by e.g. older females?). Further species of note included several Latham\u2019s Snipe<\/strong> (and several Swinhoe\u2019s, Common<\/strong> and Pin-taileds<\/strong> as well as snipes sp!), two Citrine Wagtail<\/strong> and two Hume\u2019s Leaf Warbler<\/strong>, and a total of 15 or 16 personal firsts for the spring, including single Chinese Egret, Yellow-breasted Bunting<\/strong> and Bluethroat <\/strong>\u2013 the last species to be found late in the evening. With fog banks and clearing skies, there were still plenty of birds calling after dark, however, including a Grey Nightjar<\/strong> \u2013 and these calls seemed to increase between 10PM and midnight.
\nAn hour of listening and sound-recording around the harbour at that time produced at least 20 species, mostly thrushes (several Eye-broweds<\/strong> perhaps in with many definite Grey-backed, Pale<\/strong> and Dusky<\/strong>) and shorebirds (including several Grey-tailed Tattler<\/strong> and Terek Sandpiper<\/strong>, single Oriental Pratincole<\/strong>, curlew sp and a stint, perhaps Long-toed<\/strong>?). Other nocturnal odds and ends on the move also included four species of bunting and e.g. single Brambling, Siskin<\/strong> and Eastern Yellow Wagtail<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\nBluethroat<\/b> Luscinia svecica
\n<\/i>. Photo © Nial Moores\/Birds Korea<\/p>\n

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\nFemale Blue-and-white Flycatcher<\/b> Cyanoptila cyanomelana
\n<\/i>. Photo © Nial Moores\/Birds Korea
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April 24 & 25, Eocheong Island<\/strong>
\nStill rather quiet for the time of year, with between only 500 and 600 birds both days, 60 species on the 24th and 57 on the 25th; and the only firsts of the spring being Ashy Minivet<\/strong> (1), Greater Short-toed Lark<\/strong> (2), Chinese Pond Heron<\/strong> (2) and Hume\u2019s Leaf Warbler<\/strong> (1).<\/p>\n

April 23, Eocheong Island<\/strong>
\nA very quiet morning despite the addition of a couple of rooms full of birders, with the best birds all in the evening: a Japanese Waxwing<\/strong>, two Oriental Pratincole<\/strong> and the personal first Eastern Cattle Egret<\/strong> of the spring. Further interest was also provided by a puzzling alba<\/strong> Wagtail<\/strong> showing more black on the head than might be expected in ocularis<\/strong> (perhaps a lugens x ocularis<\/em> intergrade?).<\/p>\n

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\nJapanese Waxwing<\/b> Bombycilla japonica<\/i>. Photo © Nial Moores\/Birds Korea
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April 22, Eocheong Island<\/strong>
\nLight rain through the morning failed on this occasion to produce a decent fall, either because of the dense fog or perhaps the excessive noise and disturbance this day. Best was a Little Whimbrel<\/strong> low over the main street, and also new for this island\u2019s spring single Common Greenshank, Whimbrel<\/strong> and Richard\u2019s Pipit<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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April 28, Eocheong Island Under clear skies, an afternoon survey of the main southern part of the island with Mr. Ju Yung-Ki produced 63 species, with the personal first Narcissus Flycatcher and Northern House Martin of the spring, three Eurasian … 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":[41,57],"class_list":["post-518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bird-sightings","tag-eocheong-island","tag-migrants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518","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=518"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8405,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions\/8405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birdskoreablog.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}