| The Korean Birdwatcher's Year |
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| Planning to birdwatch in Korea? This calendar will help you to
decide the best times for your visit and lists some of the great birds you can
expect to see. |
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• Throughout the Year
South Korea has a
temperate/continental climate, with generally hot summers (maxima typically
above 25C from mid-June to mid-August), and cold winters (below freezing most
nights between December and February). Rainfall tends to be concentrated in the
summer monsoon (mid-June to July) or is associated with typhoons (late July to
mid-September). Winters are often very dry. |
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| The Rufous Turtle Dove, one of Korea's commonest birds.
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Usually the first bird that visitors see is the
extraordinarily common Black-billed Magpie. Most tidal-flats or rivers
support Black-tailed Gull, Grey Heron and Great Egret, along with
Spot-billed Ducks, which breed widely in rice-fields and reedy wetlands. In even
small town parks Eurasian Tree Sparrows and Oriental Turtle Doves
are very common, while larger areas will also hold flocks of Vinous-throated
Parrotbills, the striking Daurian Redstart, and "genuine"
Ring-necked Pheasant. Taller trees inevitably contain Brown-eared
Bulbuls and Great Tits, while Oriental Greenfinches prefer
allotments and overgrown riverbanks, which often also conceal
Black-crowned Night Herons. More extensive mature woodland, e.g. Gwangneung Arboretum, can hold
Great Spotted, White-backed and Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers plus
the regionally endemic Varied Tit. Gravelly rivers in the south and east
support Long-billed Plover and Japanese Wagtail. Large-billed
Crows and Azure-winged Magpies are resident and visible in
mountainous areas and along the south coast. |
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| These representative species are joined seasonally by a very wide number of
migrants: of the 475 or so species of bird recorded in Korea, less than 40 can
be considered truly resident... |
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| • Winter Birding in Korea |
| December and January |
| In occasional periods of extreme cold many smaller rivers and reservoirs
freeze over. Temperatures often drop to -5 C at night, and stay near freezing in
the day. Periods of light snow and severe cold are usually followed by milder
temperatures, and then severe cold again. |
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The steller Sea Esgle : Regular at
several sites each
winter |
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Organised winter Tours by WBKBirdingKorea can expect
about 160 species in 12 days if all the best areas are visited, and winter
specialties include Baikal Teal and Scaly-sided Merganser,
Swan and Lesser White-fronted Goose, Steller's Sea and Eastern
Imperial Eagle, Relict and Saunders's Gull and Solitary Snipe!
Red-crowned Cranes stand out on tidal -flats at Ganghwa,
while White-naped and Hooded Cranes can be found in the south.
Huge numbers of ducks and geese fill sites like Haenam
and Seosan's Cheonsu Bay.
Siberian Accentors can be common. On the southern island of Jeju milder conditions allow
White's and Pale Thrushes, Olive -backed Pipits, and
Red-flanked Bluetails to overwinter along with Korea's only regular
winter Black-faced Spoonbills, and several thousand Mandarin Duck.
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| February |
| March often contains a mixture of dry, cold days (with night temperatures
down to 3-4 C, and highs between 10 and 15 C) and occasional milder showery,
windy weather. |
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| Korea is probably the best place in the world to see the enigmatic
Relict Gull in winter. |
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Many wildfowl are on the move by mid-month, including
one or two Baer's Pochard. Tundra Beans, Greater White-fronted and
usually Swan Geese can be found at the Han-Imjin. Most Baikal
Teal start to depart and can be difficult to find in southern locations.
Rooks and Daurian Jackdaws begin to move back into the Nakdong
valley and near Gunsan. February sees the start of crane migration, with
Hooded and White-napeds moving into South Korea from Japan.
Relict and Saunders's Gull peak at several sites. In the right weather
conditions large numbers of Ancient Murrelets and a few Rhinoceros
Auklets move north off the Guryongpo Peninsula. At the
end of the month the first migrants, such as Far Eastern Curlews, Hoopoes
and Japanese Lesser Sparrowhawks, arrive. |
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| March |
| Cold winters mean both temperatures and birding are similar to January,
while mild winters are marked by brief spells of rain or sleet, often followed
by warmer sunshine, with maximum temperatures rising to 15 C in the
southeast. |
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Naumann's Thrushes bring extra
color to the changing season |
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