South Korea 2002

South Korea bird list
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So what were the highlights of the tour? A look at the 'Bird of the Trip' table at the end of this document shows that for the second year running Steller's Sea Eagle was well ahead of the rest of the field but it also gives a taste of the depth of quality of the birds we saw. This really was a fabulous trip.

The group arrived mid-day on the 5th December and, after meeting Mr Kim, our guide, and Mr Kim, our coach driver, we headed north to a site bordering the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) along South Korea's northern border. On our way north we passed numerous small army camps, sentry posts, mile after mile of barbed wire and were able to see North Korea's tragically misguided 'Propaganda Village' off in the distance. But, interesting as these were, we hadn't come here to go sightseeing…we had some specific ornithological targets in mind and we found them all, and more. We saw at least 52 different Cinereous Vultures as well as the first of seven Snow Geese and the first of four White-tailed Eagles that we would see that very first afternoon! And then, way off in the distance, were several White-naped Cranes, another of the afternoon's primary targets. We were now on a roll…a male Daurian Redstart, our first Siberian Accentor, and our first Yellow-throated Bunting followed shortly.

Moving back south we stopped to marvel at a pair of close White-naped Cranes, surely the most attractive of the four species of crane that we would encounter on the tour. Our next stop was at a regular site for Swan Goose, and sure enough they were still present just inside the DMZ. Minutes later we were treated to a party of over a dozen Long-tailed Tits, a flock that included at least three gorgeous white-headed birds of the nominate subspecies caudatus. Continuing south our third stop produced still more White-naped Cranes, though this time a seemingly diminutive Hooded Crane accompanied them. Other highlights included a pre-roost gathering of crows with at least two Daurian Jackdaws, our first Smew, three more Snow Geese, a couple of thousand 'Tundra' Bean Geese and umpteen Ruddy Shelduck - and all in our first afternoon.

We spent the night in our first Korean 'love motel' and most of the following day exploring a variety of sites at Ganghwa Island. Highlights of our pre-breakfast walk included a couple of Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers, several Varied Tits, both Dusky and Naumann's Thrushes, our first South Korean rarity in the shape of a stunning adult male 'Red-throated' Thrush and a small party of the seemingly ubiquitous, though nonetheless entertaining and attractive, Vinous-throated Parrotbills.

Our post-breakfast challenge was somewhat harder however - it was to find our third species of crane, Red-crowned. It didn't take us long although our initial views were uninspiring to say the least. Undaunted we continued, a fabulous performance from two Rough-legged Buzzards and then two more Red-crowned Cranes. Undoubtedly a better view than earlier, they were still quite distant and never landed and we were still left wanting more… Our first Black-tailed Gulls, a Bull-headed Shrike, and more cranes including, our second Hooded Crane, followed before lunch. After lunch that we'd no sooner climbed out of the coach than the birds started coming thick and fast. Parties of Rustic Buntings and Bramblings were soon followed by a pair of Japanese Reed Buntings but it was the day's finale, a spectacular fly-past by a pair of bugling Red-crowned Cranes that will be remembered for longest. This was South Korean birding at its best.

We spent the night amid the neon glow in Songdo and the following early morning having magnificent views of our first Saunders's Gulls. We followed these by our second South Korean rarity, a pair of Chinese (or White-browed) Nuthatches, in what appeared to be the only trees for miles. Our next stop was at Seosan. Highlights of just our first afternoon included three more South Korean specialities in the shapes of Oriental White Stork, no less than 7000 Baikal Teal and, for a lucky few, our first views of the spectacular Steller's Sea Eagle.

We concentrated our attentions during our second day at Seosan in re-finding the Steller's Sea Eagle…but to no avail. And this was despite even being told by one of the country's leading birders that he'd been watching it no more than 20 minutes previously! Nevertheless a day with 150 Black-necked Grebes, 23 Eurasian Spoonbills, three species of geese, 9000 Baikal Teal, 80 Smew, 4 White-tailed Eagles, stunning views of Chinese Penduline Tits and our first Black-backed Wagtails, Chestnut-eared and Pallas's Reed Buntings of the trip had to be a good day in anyone's book!

And so to our final morning at Seosan. It started well with six eagles, five White-tailed and a fine performance from a near adult Imperial Eagle but, enjoyable as these were, our primary goal was somewhat bigger! Then suddenly a shout from the rear of the group has us turning on our heels and there it was, the Steller's Sea Eagle. Distant at first, it slowly and effortlessly, drifted closer. In all we probably watched it for at least half-an-hour before it again vanished off in to the distance. Now we could leave, satiated with our views of this, probably the Palaearctic's most impressive raptor. Heading further south we found another huge raft of Baikal Teal and our first Falcated and Mandarin Ducks. The biggest surprise however was another South Korean rarity in the shape of a very unseasonal Whiskered Tern. We flew, later that evening, to the honeymoon destination of Jeju Island but not before we'd gorged ourselves on pizza at the airport!

We had a stay of just one and a half days on Jeju, a dramatically picturesque volcanic island off South Korea's southwestern coast. And, as if to reinforce that it was hardly the tropical paradise that some tourist literature would have us believe, it snowed heavily overnight and made the following day's birding and driving particularly fraught. Still we managed to reach all of our planned destinations and the first stop produced most of the target species - Japanese Bush Warbler, Japanese White-eye and our first White-backed Woodpecker. After lunching on pigeon soup (as twitchers back in Britain were watching Oriental Turtle Dove we were probably eating one!) we moved on. Our primary target here was Black-faced Spoonbill which, with a population of only 700, is one of the world's rarest birds. Five birds were present, and we had some excellent views, while other distractions included our first Pacific Diver, White-winged Scoter and Slaty-backed Gull.

The following morning saw us searching for several of the species that we had missed the previous day. Excellent looks at the tour's second Imperial Eagle and a Pale Thrush were well worth the effort. And that's how we left Jeju Island, it had just about stopped snowing, and we'd seen just about all that we could. There was much less snow back on the mainland; the Japanese Quail were surprisingly easy to find at the usual stop and we were also treated to flight views of a Great Bittern. And so we moved on to the impounded river that is fast becoming famous as the best place in the world for Baikal Teal. We estimated that there were 180,000 birds (±30,000) present here, and who would argue. No matter what the figure was it's a phenomenal sight and surely one of the world's premiere avian spectacles. The flock apparently spend the day roosting on the river and become increasingly restless towards dusk before eventually flying off to spend the night feeding in the surrounding rice stubble fields. By the time we arrived at the site the birds were already starting to become restless, a few birds would momentarily take flight before landing again often at the other end of the flock. In this manner the entire flock would leap frog over and over itself in a rippling, wave-like manner at times reminiscent of a pre-roost gathering of European Starlings, Red-winged Blackbirds or shorebirds. It took some believing that this one site contains the bulk of the world population of Baikal Teal, a species that until only a few years ago was considered to be in serious peril.

Day 9 had us adding a few new species - quality local specialities such as Long-billed Plover and Japanese Wagtail - to our already burgeoning trip list even before breakfast. We followed these with a party of Azure-winged Magpies and a Common Kingfisher immediately afterwards. The morning's prize however was the only Siberian Meadow Bunting of the tour moments before we were due to climb back aboard the coach. After lunch at a seafood restaurant overlooking Suncheon Bay (a restaurant that's probably unique in having Hooded Cranes, Greater Scaup and Saunders's Gulls visible from the rear of the building) we headed down to the Bay itself. It didn't take us long to find the wintering flock of Hooded Cranes, a flock that contained our fourth species of crane in the shape of an adult Common Crane.

A frozen reservoir hosted several 'Taiga' Bean Geese, a couple of Tundra Swans, a sizeable flock of Smew and a rather forlorn Chinese Pond Heron. It was only a short drive from there to a neighbouring reservoir where we found a small party of passerines mobbing a superbly camouflaged Collared Scops Owl. Five Baikal Teal on the reservoir proper hardly raised much interest after the previous day's spectacle though a Red-crested Pochard and a large number of truly gorgeous Falcated Ducks certainly did.

The drive to our next scheduled stop was brought abruptly to a halt when our guide spotted something from the coach on route. We stopped to check it out, and it turned out to be our second Steller's Sea Eagle. Eventually we reached South Korea's east coast. Three Black Brant stayed on the beach long enough for us all to have good looks but the best reward came in the shape of a couple of first-winter Relict Gulls. A species that we all thought we had missed when we failed to connect with it earlier so it was a real relief to see it here. In all our time on the beach here was very productive and a taste of what was to come the following day.

The 14th December dawned clear and bright, and perhaps more importantly it wasn't windy. We spent much of the day scouring the sea from a variety of headlands and sheltered bays in search of the region's specialities. The good birding started right outside our motel. Red-throated Divers were quite common here and there were several more small parties of Black Brant as well as four species of grebe including our first Red-throated and Slavonian. Heading up the peninsula our next stop produced our first Glaucous-winged Gull and the one after that the first of the four Harlequin Ducks we would see that day. The stop after that our first bona fide Temminck's Cormorants and a number of readily identifiable Pelagic Cormorants. It was also here that we saw our first Ancient Murrelets…and we were soon to see many, many more. Eventually reached the peninsula's northernmost point where lunch here was followed by a stupendous sea-watch. We had 500 Pacific Divers, nearly as many Ancient Murrelets, about eight Rhinoceros Auklets, 40 or more Slaty-backed Gulls and an enthralling, if somewhat disoriented, Grey-headed Woodpecker on a concrete telegraph pole. All in all a fabulous time. It was already late afternoon by the time we returned to the motel where we started the day.

The following day involved a couple of lengthy drives with a break in the middle to search for another premier league South Korean speciality, Scaly-sided Merganser. As chance had it we found three birds, a male and two redheads, almost as soon as we arrived and watched them for about 10 minutes before they flew off. Other highlights included our best looks at no less than 70 Mandarin Ducks and a couple more Japanese Wagtails. Our last full day in South Korea still had some surprises in store in the shape of Solitary Snipe, Brown Dipper, and Japanese Waxwings while later we spent time going back over some of the birds, the Swan Geese, and the White-naped and Hooded Cranes that we'd seen on the very first, intoxicating afternoon.

Bird List

This is a list of all the species seen during the last two tours to South Korea combined with a list of the species actually recorded on the most recent tour.

Column A = Number of tours on which this species has been recorded.
Column B = Number of days this species was seen on the last tour.
Column C = Maximum daily count for this species on the last tour.

H = Heard only

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