Some birds from South Korea

Our daughter works in Seoul, S Korea so we decided to take an overdue two week trip there last October.  To be honest it was always going to be a family affair so birding was put to the back burner.  But I did manage to get out and see a few nice birds.  

We were mainly based in the capital Seoul but we did catch a bullet train down south for a few days.   What struck me most about this country is the sheer number of people, vast numbers around every corner.  There's no escaping from people.  With a population of 51m crammed in a space half the size of England, its no wonder it feels busy.  Everything is geared to improving human's lot and as far as I could see, with little interest for wildlife.  Every inch of land is intensively farmed, even the corner sections of motorway junctions.  As such, numbers of birds were low, just like they are here in the UK.  Basically, birding was hard work.

All that said, the people are friendly, polite, respectful and the place is uber tidy and manicured. This is a high tech, busy first world country obsessed with technology.

On to the birding, most of our successes were in mixed woodlands and beside watercourses.  Some of the special birds I saw but didn't photo were White's Thrush, Grey-backed Thrush, Brown Shrike, Humes Warbler, Black-faced Bunting, Middendorf's Warbler, Oriental Reed Warbler.

Below are some of the images I took on the trip.

First year male Mugimaki Flycatcher, a few seen in different locations, usually near water.

Male Daurian Redstart, seen on steep slope woods and clearings.

Still can't decide on this one, probably White-backed Woodpecker

Ad male Daurian Redstart

Brown-eared Bulbul, common, seen everywhere.

Spot-billed Duck

Vinous-throated Parrotbill, common and seen in large flocks near water.

Bull-headed Shrike, scarce in the south.  Also saw a few Brown Shrikes.

Great White Egret, common.

Spot-billed Duck, locally common on fast flowing rivers down south.

Oriental Turtle Dove, common.

Arctic Warbler, along with Yellow-browed Warbler, the commonest warblers.

Tree Sparrow, common in every habitat.

Brown Flycatcher, fairly regular in dark wooded areas. (this was taken on 21,600 ISO !)

Grey-naped Woodpecker

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker

Oriental Turtle Dove, common in every habitat.

Varied Tit, common in dense woodland.