Taejongdae, October 18

Bird News from Jason Loghry with Roberto Rodriguez

We took a short morning walk at Taejongdae to see if we could find any migrants on the move. Arriving at 7:30, temperatures were cool but warmer than expected. We first visited the garden area and enjoyed great views of Stejneger's Stonechat and Bull-headed Shrike.

At the main park, there were already crowds of people. Still, we enjoyed spending time watching Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, Japanese White-eye, Varied Tit, and Coal Tit. There were a few Arctic Warbler-types, but no other warblers were observed. Also observed were a considerable amount of Eastern Great Tit, and the highlight of our walk, three Yellow-bellied Tits found amongst the Eastern Greats.

Later in the morning, we saw up to five Eastern Buzzards, three Eurasian Sparrowhawk, one Japanese Sparrowhawk, one Northern Goshawk, and finally one Crested Honey Buzzard being tormented by some Large-billed Crows. Throughout the morning we heard on several occasions what sounded very much like Red-flanked Bluetail, but we were not able to see, so thought it was more likely an insect that had a close to identical call. Has anyone else heard something similar recently?

Stejneger's Stonechat stopover habitat © Jason Loghry

Stejneger's Stonechat Saxicola stejneger © Jason Loghry