Birdathon on Eocheong-do

If you’ve been following my blog, even for a short time, you might have noticed that I have what polite society might call a condition.  To say that I have “birds on the brain” doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.  I have dreams about birds, usually involving species I haven’t seen perching out in the open under perfect lighting conditions for me to photograph at my leisure.  I consider myself fluent in over 400 languages, because that is roughly the number of species I can readily identify by song or call alone (and that number continues to grow).  So, yeah, I have a condition.

Therefore it should go as no surprise that when my friend Jason Loghry at Birds Korea asked me to join the 2014 Birdathon, I literally jumped at the chance.  For those of you who don’t know, a Birdathon is a fundraising event wherein participants are sponsored to go out and see or hear as many different species as possible within a 24-hour period.  Sponsors can decide to pay a set amount of money per species, per hour spent birding, or a lump sum total.  For this Birdathon, all proceeds go directly to Birds Korea to help fund their conservation efforts protecting the critically endangered spoon-billed sandpiper and the habitats it utilizes here in South Korea.  It’s important work, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute in my own way.

I’ve already written about Eocheong-do (어청도), so this post is strictly about the birds.  And oh, the birds we did see.  There were six participants in this year’s Birdathon at Eocheong-do; other Birds Korea members did separate Birdathons at other locations in Korea and elsewhere in the world.  This year’s event carried with it the caveat that participants cannot use any mode of transportation other than their feet during the actual count period; i.e. we could take a ferry boat to Eocheong-do, but could not count any species seen during that time.  Here are some vital statistics on Birdathon 2014:

Duration: 4 days (May 3 – 6)
Birdathon Count Period: May 3, 10:20AM – May 4, 10:20AM
Birdathon Count Period Total: 78 species heard/observed
Total Species Counted on Eocheong-do: 95 species
Species Added to Life List: 18 (me); 22 (Melanie)
Funds Raised: 171,000₩

To briefly summarize our four day adventure, the birding was nothing short of spectacular.  Every day brought in new migrants, and every inch of the island was crawling with birds.  The vast majority were yellow-browed warblers, but hidden among them were less common species like Kamchatka leaf warbler and pale-legged leaf warbler.  As I have been told many times, the best birding in Korea can be found offshore on the islands, and I found this out to be true first-hand.  It wasn’t just the numbers of birds, but also the variety of species.  We even had to good fortune of spotting two mega-rarities: a cinnamon bittern and Korea’s third record of northern wheatear!

Here are a few of the highlights of our trip to Eocheong-do:

Narcissus Flycatcher (Ficedula narcissina)

Blue-and-white Flycatcher (Cyanoptila cyanomelana cyanomelana)

Chestnut Bunting (Emberiza rutila)

Yellow-breasted Bunting (Emberiza aureola ornata)
Classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List

Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis bengalensis)

Chinese Pond-heron (Ardeola bacchus)

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus himantopus)

Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus)

Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus lucionensis)

Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe oenanthe)
This is only the 3rd time this species has been recorded in South Korea

These are but a small portion of all the images I took during our trip to Eocheong-do.  I encourage you to explore the Asian Bird galleries at my website if you’d like to see more from the trip.

The Birdathon Crew
From left: Jason Loghry, Hwang Haemin, Melanie Proteau Blake, Patrick Blake, Ha Jeongmun, and Kim Ohjin

It was a tremendous experience, one that will not soon be repeated.  Melanie and I were able to see some incredible birds and experience a migration unlike any we had before, and all the while we were raising money to help protect the crucial habitats that the birds we know and love depend on for survival.  A big thanks goes out to Birds Korea for hosting this event, and to my fellow Birdathoners here and abroad, for their dedication and passion that make birding the great past time that it is.

Migration in Perspective

April and May mark the peak of the spring migration.  Every year, bird across the globe take to the air and embark on fantastic journeys from their wintering grounds to the breeding grounds.  Often this journey takes them from one hemisphere to another; some species make flights that cover literally tens of thousands of kilometers.

Once this journey is complete, birds have only a few short weeks to breed and raise their young.  Then they repeat the process in reverse, departing their breeding grounds for warmer climates to the south.  This spectacle happens twice every year, but it happens so quickly that if you blink you can miss it.  I make special efforts to get out birding as often as possible during this special time of year.

It would take too many words to describe all the migrants I’ve seen throughout the month of April, so I’ve compiled a short list of some of my favorite experiences over the past month.  So here is the “Cliff’s Notes” version of spring migration in South Korea.

Scaly Thrush (Zoothera dauma toratugumi), often referred to as “White’s Thrush”

Migration in South Korea begins with arrival of the thrushes, at least in terms of the passerine migration. Some species, such as pale thrush and scaly thrush are resident species, but are rarely observed during the winter months.  At this time of year the thrushes become more visible, and more vocal.  Dusky and Naumann’s thrushes, preparing for their return to their northern breeding grounds, congregate in growing numbers before leaving Korea until the autumn.  The forests begin to fill with the haunting melodies of pale thrush and scaly thrush.  More unusual migrants, such as grey-backed thrush and Japanese thrush can put in brief appearances during their flights north.  And as quickly as it began, the thrushes pass through and are not seen again until the fall.

Dusky Thrush (Turdus eunomus)

Migration starts to pick up with the arrival of the first Old World warblers.  The first arrivals are Japanese bush-warblers and Asian stubtails.  The majority of warblers do not breed in Korea at all, and only make short stop-offs on their way to somewhere else.  This makes the warbler migration very short, but also very exciting.  Old World warblers are not nearly as colorful and visually appealing as their North American cousins, but they do match their relatives when it comes to melodious songs.  In fact, with most Old World warblers, the only way to tell them apart is their song.  Otherwise they all basically look the same.

Japanese Bush-warbler (Horornis diphone cantans)

Eastern Crowned Leaf-warbler (Phylloscopus coronatus)

The last passerines to arrive (or pass through) on the Korean peninsula are the Old World flycatchers.  Unlike the tyrant-flycatchers of North America (small, drab, nondescript birds – usually only identifiable by their songs), Old World flycatchers run the gamut of colors.  Residents like Daurian redstart and overwintering species like red-flanked bluetail make way for such exotic-sounding species as Siberian stonechat, Narcissus flycatcher, and Mugimaki flycatcher.  As with many migrants, most of these species are only passing through, and no sooner do they arrive than off they go to their northern breeding grounds.

Narcissus Flycatcher (Ficedula narcissina)

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Birding during migration is all about timing.  A day or two can make all the difference between seeing a migrant species and having to wait a few months until it passes through again.  I’ve had some good fortune with timing this spring, and have been rewarded with adding some fantastic species to my Life List.  On a recent birding trip to the Busan area, my friend Jason Loghry and I spotted a Japanese robin and had a brief encounter with a Sakhalin leaf-warbler, both species scarce migrants to Korea.  We also had the opportunity to see the first of the new generation after locating six fledgling long-tailed tits being fed by adults.

Japanese Robin (Larvivora akahige)

Long-tailed Tit Fledgling (Aegithalos caudacutus magnus)

A long weekend holiday is fast approaching, and Melanie and I have signed up to attend a Birdathon with Birds Korea on Eocheong-do.  This will be my first official Birdathon, and our first visit to this premier birding spot off the western coast of Korea.  Look for my full report on the trip in the next few weeks.