If there is one thing I have learned since moving to South Korea, it’s that things move very quickly here. The Koreans call it 빨리 빨리 (balli balli), literally quickly, quickly. Work begins on a new 4-story apartment building, and three months later the first tenants are moving in. The weather starts to become colder, and from out of nowhere it does a 180 and you see butterflies in February.
Having just returned from Cambodia, where it was regularly 32°C (89°F), the sudden onset of spring-like weather wasn’t all that sudden to me. And no, I haven’t forgot to post about Cambodia, I’m just collecting my thoughts and pouring over about 300 photos, so please bear with me.
I start teaching at my new schools next week; another semester is about to begin. So while I still have time, I decided to check out my local patches to see if anything new had arrived while I was globetrotting in Cambodia. There weren’t any new migrants (not surprising since it’s still February), but many places were abuzz with bird song and activity. All of the resident species were fully molted and dressed in their finest. The overwintering species were nearing completion of their molt, and preparing to leave Korea behind and make the long trip to their northern breeding grounds. Waterfowl had begun to amass on the Yeongsangang River, comprised mostly of gadwall, common mergansers, Eurasian teal, and the first of the falcated ducks.
A distant photo of a pair of Falcated Duck (Anas falcata)
Male Gadwall (Anas strepera)
At the Gakhwa reservoir this morning, many of the resident species were stretching their vocal cords and beginning to sing; some were even hard at work building nests, as was clear by a female white-backed woodpecker excavating a cavity in a tall dead tree near the reservoir. I also saw a pair of long-tailed tits carrying materials into the thickets, likely to a well-concealed nest site. I’ve posted some of the best photos from the past week below; more are available at my at my website.
Juvenile Eurasian Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudacutus magnus)
Varied Tit (Poecile varius varius)
On the Wing 