The Deskbound Birder: Siberian Accentor

Showing posts with label Siberian Accentor. Show all posts

Tuesday, 28 January 2020

South Korea and Taiwan - 28th January (Day 3)

We were up at the civilised time of 06:30 and after a quick coffee we travelled a short distance through the sprawl of Incheon to the tidal flats of Songdo, also known as the Gojan Tidal Flats. The intertidal areas here are being rapidly reclaimed for development and this is a fast disappearing habitat despite being a Ramsar site, unfortunately this blatant disregard for protected sites and important habitats appears to be common in South Korea. Here, standing alongside the busy highway we recorded large numbers of familiar waders including Eurasian Curlew, Grey Plover, Oystercatcher (of the subspecies ostrilans and a possible split as Far Eastern Oystercatcher) and Dunlin and, equally familiar, Mallard, Pintail and Shelduck. We failed to see our main target here which was Relict Gull but the large numbers of gull made for interesting viewing with 315 Saunder’s Gull, 100 Black-tailed Gull, 30 Mew Gull of the subspecies kamtschatschensis, two Lesser Black-backed Gull of the subspecies taimyrensis, 30 Mongolian Herring Gull and two Vega Gull. Two White-tailed Eagle stood on the mudflats awaiting a feeding opportunity. Our full list for the site can be viewed on eBird here. Having had our fix of gulls and waders and realising the Relict Gulls were not going to show we began our two hour journey northwards to the South Korea National Arboretum and Forest Museum.

We arrived at the arboretum at 10:25, it was nice to be in the forest clad hills rather than in the urban sprawl of the previous sites that we had visited. The first area we birded was the reed lined river course flowing south along the western side of the main car park. After some searching we found one of our main targets at the site, a superb Solitary Snipe which we watched as it bobbed Jack Snipe like along the waters edge. This species breeds at high altitude in remote areas of central Asia, southern Siberia and northern China and winters thinly in Korea, Japan, East China and north India. It is difficult to see throughout its range and unfortunately unsympathetic development of the arboretum, one of the key sites for seeing the species, is meaning that it is becoming more difficult to encounter this species. After getting our fill of this superb bird and dwelling on its future here we wandered into the main arboretum, at this time of the year rather grey and seeming lifeless. We spent much of our time around the Medicinal Garden where our second main target, Pallas’s Rosefinch, was first seen as a small flock of around seven birds flitted through the canopy but a little later in the day we managed to find a flock of 15 feeding on the ground amongst dense scrub. Other species we recorded at this site during our five hours birding included Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, White-backed Woodpecker, Black Woodpecker, Varied Tit, Naumann’s Thrush, Siberian Accentor, Yellow-throated Bunting, Rustic Bunting and the superb griseiventris subspecies of Bullfinch. Our eBird checklist for the site can be viewed here.

Solitary Snipe - South Korea National Arboretum, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Varied Tit - South Korea National Arboretum, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Brown-eared Bulbul - South Korea National Arboretum, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker - South Korea National Arboretum, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Siberian Chipmunk - South Korea National Arboretum, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Siberian Accentor - South Korea National Arboretum, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

White-backed Woodpecker - South Korea National Arboretum, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Eastern Spot-billed Duck - South Korea National Arboretum, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Hawfinch - South Korea National Arboretum, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Eurasian Bullfinch - South Korea National Arboretum, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Grey Heron - South Korea National Arboretum, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Eurasian (Brandt's) Jay - South Korea National Arboretum, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Japanese Tit - South Korea National Arboretum, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Pallas's Rosefinch - South Korea National Arboretum, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

At around 15:30 we began our journey south to Seosan arriving at 18:30 and booking into the Vovo Hotel. We wandered a short distance to a restaurant for a superb Korean dinner which was heavily laced with Chilli and Garlic.

Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)

South Korea

26th January (Day 1 and 2) – International flight then Han River area.

28th January (Day 3) – Songdo Tidal Flats and Korea National Arboretum.

29th January (Day 4) – Seosan Reclamation.

30th January (Day 5) – Seosan Reclamation then Geum River.

31st January (Day 6) – Yubu Island, and Han River.

Taiwan

1st February (Day 7) – Fly Seoul (South Korea) to Taipei (Taiwan) then Dasyueshan Forest Reserve.

2nd February (Day 8) – Dasyueshan Forest Reserve.

3rd February (Day 9) – Dasyueshan Forest Reserve.

4th February (Day 10) – Dasyueshan Forest Reserve.

5th February (Day11) – Dasyueshan Forest Reserve then Huisin Forest Reserve.

6th February (Day 12) – Huisin Forest Reserve then Blue Gates Trail.

7th February (Day 13) – Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area.

8th February (Day 14) – Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area then Firefly Lodge.

9th February (Day 15) – Alishan.

10th February (Day 16) – Alishan, Kenting National Park and Pintung University.

11th February (Day 17) – Pingtung University then international flight.

Sunday, 6 November 2016

China Wetlands (Birdquest) Tour - 6th November (Day 3)

We were up for a 06:00 departure and headed for the Dingling area of the Ming Tombs outside of Beijing, and were early enough to avoid the traffic horrors of the city. Here we birded an area of persimmon orchard at the back (south-west) of the tombs in very grey and gloomy weather conditions. The orchards are traditionally managed with extensive areas of scrub and weed and with the distinctive bright orange fruit of the persimmon vivid against the bare trees and grey skies. The fruit are clearly highly attractive to many of the thrush, finch and bunting that winter here. We birded the orchards until 15:00 with an hour break for lunch. The birding was fantastic with large flocks of 100’s of Brambling and smaller flocks of Naumann’s Thrush. Amongst the Naumann’s Thrush were small numbers of Rufous-throated Thrush and Dusky Thrush giving us the opportunity to study the plumage variation amongst these species. Small flocks of bunting consisted of Little Bunting, Rustic Bunting, Yellow-throated Bunting, Meadow Bunting, Pallas’s Reed Bunting and a single male Godlewski’s Bunting. Amongst the scrub Siberian Accentor was moderately common with around ten birds seen, it was great to see this species after missing all those in the UK this year. Other birds in this area included Chinese Nuthatch, the rather wacky Chinese Bush-dweller, Grey-capped Woodpecker, Grey-faced Woodpecker, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Tit, Plain Laughingthrush and Oriental Greenfinch. But one of the highlights was a male Chaffinch, a China tick for our guide Hannu and a vagrant to the area.

Siberian Accentor - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Red Squirrel of subspecies orientis - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Brambling - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Chaffinch, a vagrant to the area - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Naumann's Thrush - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Naumann's Thrush (adult) - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Naumann's Thrush - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Rufous-throated Thrush was far less common than Naumann's and

we only saw around three individuals - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Dusky Thrush - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Rustic Bunting - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Little Bunting - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Meadow Bunting - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Godlewski's Bunting - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Yellow-throated Bunting, with two in Norway this November this is surely

a potential addition to the British List - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Yellow-throated Bunting - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Plain Laughingthrush - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Chinese Bush-dweller - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Persimmon fruit, striking despite the very gloomy weather conditions- Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Yellow-bellied Tit - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Chinese Nuthatch - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Silver-throated Tit - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Vinous-throated Parrotbill - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Magpie, of the race serica is similar to European races but is

genetically distinct - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

Asian Azure-winged Magpie - Dingling Tombs, Beijing

The orchards at Dingling Tombs, Beijing, the roof of the tombs building can be seen in the centre

Orchads at Dingling Tombs, Beijing

We finished our birding at the orchard at 15:00 and battled through the congested streets of Beijing to a restaurant where we had the now familiar Chinese fare. We then headed to Beijing Railway Station for a 17:20 train south to Yendu arriving at 06:01 on the morning of the 7th November. We ‘slept’ in a very snug but not too bad sleeper cabin which accommodated four people in rather stuffy conditions. We were pleased to arrive at Yendu.

Life Birds;