In warm sunshine (with temperatures reaching a balmy 10C), good numbers of a wide range of species. Highlights included ca 18 Glaucous and 3 Glaucous-winged Gulls, 100+ Red-necked Grebe (an exceptional count in Korea), ca 150 stejnegeri White-winged Scoter and 20+ Harlequin Duck, several hundred Ancient Murrelet, 2 close-in Rhinceros Auklet, and excellent views of 2 Pacific Loon.

1st winter Glaucous-winged Gull, Guryongpo © Nial Moores

January 27, Haenam-Suncheon Bay

ca 300 Eastern Taiga Bean and between 3 and 5 Oriental White Stork were obvious highlights in Haenam, while ca 40 Hooded Crane at Suncheon were more expected than a single Chinese Grey Shrike there.

January 26, Geum River AM, Haenam PM

A successful morning (once the fog had cleared!), with ca 250 osculans Oystercatcher and 23 Swan Goose in the estuary, and 6 200 Baikal Teal and a single adult Lesser White-fronted Goose on the "lake". Our search for at least 8 Oriental White Stork present in the Haenam area in the evening (per and thanks to Lee Jeong-Sik) sadly proved unsuccessful due largely to time constraints...

January 25, Seosan
In overcast and misty weather, 76 species were logged. Although the Steller's Sea Eagle was not found, highlights included excellent views of single Rough-legged and Upland Buzzard, a single (presumed first winter) Cackling Goose, 129 Saunder's Gull, a Bluethroat, Japanese Quail, an Amur Leopard Cat and 7 species of bunting.

Apparent Steppe Gull, Seosan © Nial Moores

Best bird of the day in the Korean context (for NM at least!) was 2 presumed barabensis Steppe Gull, both poorly digi-scoped: this taxon has perhaps not yet been reliably recorded nationally, but based on the frequency of possibles, might eventually prove to be a regular though rather scarce winter visitor.

Best bird of the day in the Korean context (for NM at least!) was 2 presumed barabensis Steppe Gull, both poorly digi-scoped: this taxon has perhaps not yet been reliably recorded nationally, but based on the frequency of possibles, might eventually prove to be a regular though rather scarce winter visitor.

January 24, Cheorwon-NE River-Arboretum
Some excellent birding punctuated by long spells of driving! 40 + Red-crowned and 80+ White-naped Cranes flying out of the DMZ in the early morning at Cheorwon was followed by 10 Scaly-sided Merganser on the NE River (where also 2 Long-billed Plover and several Japanese Wagtail), and great views of a Solitary Snipe at the arboretum.

January 23, Song Do and Sorae - Han-Imjin
An excellent day for gulls, with great views of an adult Relict Gull (with a metal band on its left leg) at Song Do (where also ca 100 Saunders's Gull), 2 "Yellow Sea Gull" at Sorea, and most surprising of all, an adult American Herring Gull seen well (though briefly with no images taken) at flight and on the tidal-flat in the Sorae tidal-creek.

In the estuary about 30 Swan Geese were present. A couple of male Falcated Teal and a female were seen up river. Also there a Japanese Wagtail perched on an electrical wire long enough to be identified. A Water Rail was seen well in a canal near the Geum River. At the Man-gyeong between 5 - 600 Grey Plovers and perhaps 2000 Dunlin were observed from our vantage point at Hwoe-hyun.

Water Rail, Geum © Jake Mac Lennan

Highlights at this highly threatened site included 66 Saunders's and one second winter Relict Gull.

Cinerous Vultures in groups of up to 50 individuals visible all along the Imjin River from Imjingak. Other sightings included Common Buzzard (3), Northern Sparrowhawk (2), White-tailed Sea Eagle (1 imm) and 250 Ruddy Shelduck.

At Joonam today, 35 White-naped Cranes.

White-naped Cranes, Joonam © Barry Heinrich

2 Black Storks

1700 Taiga Bean Geese, 70 White-fronted Geese, 4 Whooper Swans, 6 White Spoonbills, 1 White-tailed Eagle, 1 Northern Goshawk, 1 Hen Harrier, 1 Long-billed Plover.

Long-billed Plover, Upo © Kim Su Kyung

On a day that would have been great with a Water Rail, Green Sandpiper, numerous naumanni Dusky Thrush, 200 Coots in the Kunsan Reservoir, 200 Eurasian Curlews on the mud of the estuary, Reed and personata Black-faced Buntings, Olive-backed Pipits and two groups of Azure-winged Magpies, we got more than most birders could ask for...
In the morning we stared at a strange Aythya near the estuary dam for some time, we concluded after after a little discussion and consulting Robson's Guide to the Birds of South East Asia that it had to be a male Ferruginous Duck. We returned to confirm and met Choi Seung-hoon and Kim Tae-hwan who also witnessed and photographed the bird.
[Birds Korea comment: Rare in South Korea, the first documented record was only three years ago on Feb 2nd 2002 at Joonam (go to New Korean Species: Ferruginous Duck). This adult male (note the white eye of this bird) is the third, following another male at Upo on 22 December 2004.]

Adult male Ferruginous Duck, © Chai Seng Hoon

Sunday we had a heavy snowstorm in Busan. Late afternoon we found an Eurasian Eagle Owl at Eulsukdo on the ground in the snow. It was being bothered by many Magpies.

Eagle Owl, © Peter de Haas

Namsan Park 16th January: Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (4), Grey-headedWoodpecker (2), Greater Spotted Woodpecker (1), Varied Tit (2), Dusky Thrush (all naumanni), (9) and (a first for me in Namsan) a Black -faced Bunting bringing my Namsan Park total to 40 species.

The highlights of a Saturday 15th January morning visit to Seosan produced Oriental White Stork (1), Smew (50), Whooper Swan (9), White-tailed Sea Eagle (1 immature), Steller's Sea Eagle (1 immature), Common Buzzard (3), Upland Buzzard (1).
An afternoon drive along the Han Imjim River to Imjinjak produced another White-tailed Sea Eagle, a Snow Goose and over 300 Cinereous Vultures. The day finished at the Imjin River near to Jeokseong where a second Snow Goose was amongst 3000 mixed Geese together with 4 White-tailed Sea Eagles fighting over a carcass by the side of the River and a further 100 Cinereous Vultures.

Snow Goose, Imjin River © Mike Hooper

2 Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl, © Peter de Haas

25 White-naped Cranes

White-naped Cranes, Joonam © Mo In Ho

1 Relict Gull.

1st winter Relict Gull, Pohang © Kim Sung Hyun

At the Geum River Estuary 350+ Saunders' Gulls and 43 Swan Geese were seen - two of which had neck bands. One was blue with white letters which read "R90" parallel to the neck, the other was white with blue lettering and numbers: an "A" written horizontally followed by "32" parallel to the neck.
Also in the vicinity of the estuary 50-60 Northern Lapwings were observed. Further up river another five Swan Geese were seen. A single personata Black-faced Bunting was in an area adjacent to the estuary and in the Okku reservoir a single Red-throated Diver was seen.

2 White-tailed Eagles and 1 Glaucous Gull.

Sub-adult (possibly 2nd Cal year) White-tailed Eagle and adult Glaucous Gull, © Sim Heon Seup

Only a few hours in the field...at Ganghwa several Naumann's and a single Pale Thrush, along with numerous Varied Tit and Yellow-throated Bunting, but no sign of any Red-crowned Crane. Between Imjingak and Ilsan, at least 450 Cinereous Vulture, 2 or 3 White-tailed Eagle, 4 Swan Goose and 51 White-naped Crane, along with several thousand Greater White-fronted and a few hundred serrirsotris Bean Goose.

2 Pied Avocets (the species is rare in Korea in winter).

Pied Avocets with Spot-billed Ducks, © Gang Chang Wan

1 Oriental White Stork and 23 Mandarin Duck.

Oriental White Stork, © Shin Hwa Yong.

1 White bellied Green Pigeon.

Rare in South Korea, there have been just the following previous records:

• 1 individual captured Bukjeju Gun, Jeju, 10th April, 1977
• 1 individual captured Hanlim Eup, Jeju, 1989
• 1 individual captured Daejeon, 10th December, 1989
• 1 individual captured Taejongdae, Busan, 1st January, 1992
• 1 individual observed by Jung Ok Sik, Somaemul island, Tongyoung, South Sea, 5th May, 1998
• 4 individuals observed by Kim Su Man, Dok Island, East Sea, October, 1992

(Information from Park Jin Young, 2002. Current status and distribution of birds in Korea. Ph.D. thesis of Kyunghee University.)

White-bellied Green Pigeon, © Lee Jeong Gwan

Again, several Russet Sparrow and 2 White-tailed Eagle at Yangyang. At Jumunjin, ca 14 Ancient Murrelet close to shore, along with several Stejneger's White-winged and Black Scoters, with most interesting a very dark-saddled "white-headed" gull, possibly either a barabensis Steppe or perhaps even an eastern cachinnans.

January 05, Yangyang north along coast

With overnight temperatures down to -7C on the coast, most streams now frozen. At Yangyang two White-tailed Eagle, 4 or 5 Russet Sparrow, 5 Siberian Accentor (one finally seen excellently) and 4+ Little in with the more numerous Rustic and Yellow-throated Buntings, with several Meadow and ca 20 Pallas's Reed also present there.
Along the coast, a total of ca 23 Glaucous Gull counted, at least 3 more White-tailed Eagle, 2 or 3 Slavonian, 1 Red-necked and 10+ Black-necked Grebes, ca 75 Black and 10 White-winged Scoters, 15 Harlequin Duck and ca 30 Azure-winged Magpie.
Disappointingly, at Hwajin Po only ca 20 Whooper and no Mute Swan: this site has suffered much recent construction.

January 4, Cheorwon and "NE River".

At dawn (with a temperature down to a chilly -10 C), very approximately 170 White-naped and 40 Red-crowned Cranes flying out from the DMZ roost, while at the main feeding station (despite increased army restrictions) ca 480 Cinereous Vulture and ca 5 White-tailed Eagle.
In the afternoon, two hours at the stretch of river which held Scaly-sided Merganser in November produced stunning views of at least 9 individuals (two apparent pairs, and several other female-types), along with several Long-billed Plover, Japanese Wagtail and 2 Brown Dipper.

January 03, Airport-Gwangneung Arboretum

Only a couple of hours in the field, in rather overcast conditions. En route, ca 350 Rook and 50 Daurian Jackdaw, 30 Ruddy Shelduck and ca 75 serrirostris Bean Goose in one area of fields, while the arboretum produced two Solitary Snipe, 1 Brown Dipper, 1 rather unseasonal Common Kingfisher, and great views of a couple of White-backed Woodpecker - the latter breaking off several tree branches with their hammering.

8 Mute Swans.

January 04, Youngrang lake, East Sea

6 Mute Swans.

Mute Swan, © Jang Kyung Hae

After a good cold wintery week, notable changes were seen in the number of Coots and Red-breasted Mergansers. Today they outnumbered Common Mergansers toward the mouth of the Geum Estuary by several birds to one. A single Green Sandpiper (unusual in winter) was seen as well as a Common. The Baikal Teal are still here in good numbers but they are roosting farther up river - away from the blinds installed for their observation!
We looked today for a bit, but were unable to locate the Red-crested Pochard (a male, present since 19 Dec).