Red-crested Pochards are very rare visitors to Korea. These photographs were the documentation of the 6th national record. While I had seen a female at Junam reservoir in the south in January (it has wintered there for the past 2 winters), this male was much more attractive. It was in the company of Tufted Ducks (Aythya fuligula) and Common Pochards (Aythya ferina), both of which can be seen in these pictures. The Red-crested Pochard, for those not familiar with Eurasian duck species, is the one with the red bill.

Oriental White Storks, with a world population of only about 2500 birds, are extremely rare, particularly in Korea, where only a few were present in the winter of 2003, including this incredibly cooperative bird on the edge of the town of Ganghwa. Photo taken January 25, 2003.

Common on fresh water throughout Korea, whether the Mongolian Gull is an independent species or not is currently a matter of debate. It is not difficult to separate from other white-headed gulls occurring in Korea if you know what to look for.

Little Ringed Plovers are common on migration, when they can occur almost anywhere -- on coastal tidal flats, on small streams, or in ricefields. They're cute little Plovers, reminiscent of the Semipalmated Plovers which occur with similar frequency in Eastern Canada. These ones were loosely accompanied by about 200 others in ricefields and along small streams around Daegok, which is between Seoul and Ilsan, in late March 2003.

Mongolian Plovers, like Kentish Plovers, are common on the tidal flats along the West coast of Korea. They, however, do not remain to breed. This Mongolian Plover was with about 80 others on the Geum River estuary tidal flats near Janghang, across the river from Kunsan.

Long-tailed Tit
(Aegithalos caudatus)

The photograph to the right is of a white-headed Long-tailed Tit, which is quite a rare winter visitor to Korea; the photograph on the left, below is of the same individual, which was near Eungbong station on the Han River in Seoul on March 2, 2003. A number of white-headed birds were reported in Korea in the winter of 2002-03, indicating that this may have been a bit of an invasion year for them. I believe that the birds pictured here is probably of the subspecies japonicus, as the tertials were pink. The tertials of the caudatus subspecies are apparently white. The bird below, on the right, is a typical example of the resident Korean subspecies, A. c. magnus. Note the black lines visible on the head. The calls given by the two varieties are also different, and the white-headed bird shown here was located by its more abrupt call, which does not trail off at the end as the call of magnus does.

Chinese Nuthatch
(Sitta villosa)

These photographs, of a male Chinese Nuthatch found on Ganghwa Island on April 19, 2002, represent only the second time, to my knowledge, that the species has been photographed in Korea. There were two males present in the same area on that day, distinguished by slight sifferences in their colour pattern (it is possible that one was a first-year male and the other was an adult). While generally quite rare, the winter of 2002-03 featured an incredible invasion of them, and possibly up to 8 (including these two) were reported in the northeast of Korea. A cute little bird, similar in many ways to the North American Red-breasted Nuthatch, it is coloured slightly differently, and the calls are quite different from those of the latter species.

Black Woodpecker
(Dryocopus martius)

A rare bird in Korea, as in much of its range, the Black Woodpecker is an amazing bird. It seems to be somewhat fussier in terms of its habitat preference than the Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) of North America, being found mainly in areas with intact tracts of old growth. I have only seen them in a couple of areas to the north of Seoul. Their flight and feeding behaviour is similar to that of the Pileated. They feed on the insect larvae and/or ants found in dying coniferous trees by flaking off large chunks of bark and drilling into the underlying wood with their powerful, ivory-coloured bill. Like all woodpeckers, they have a specially designed, extra-long tongue to reach deep into the trees retrieve the insects which they feed on. I found this Black Woodpecker feeding in a pine tree in Gwangneung, to the north of Seoul, on January 31, 2003.

Pale Thrush
(Turdus pallidus)

Pale Thrush is a common bird in Korea, particularly on migration. It tends to be rather skulky, though, and for that reason it is often difficult to find. Most often, it is either flushed, or found by following the sound of its digging in the leaves. That is how this one was located, at Namsan park in central Seoul in March 2003.

Blue Rock Thrush
(Monticola solitarius)

Blue Rock Thrushes occur regularly along the coast in Korea where there are large rock outcrops, like the ones where this male was seen singing at Ahnmyeondo, south of Seosan.

Common Reed Bunting
(Emberiza schoeniclus)

A bird that is only found by visiting reedbeds, the Common Reed Bunting is an uncommon winter visitor in Korea. It is more common in the southwest, although this one, which was part of a flock of over 150 reed buntings, of 3 species, was at Ganghwa Island in the Northeast on March 22, 2003. Many of the birds in that flock (this one is an example) were feeding in the dirt beside the reedbeds, rather than in the reeds themselves. I hadn't seen this behaviour in the winter, but it's possible that with the warmer temperatures and the thawing ground, there was more food to be found there.

Copyright Tim Allison 2003