Korean Job Discussion Forums

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

re: "Cranes"- these national emblems are actually very scarce birds nowadays, and there are only a very few select places you can actually see them each winter....
Maybe what people are seeing are the large all-white birds- egrets; which are fairly common, or likewise herons (grey, long necked, on rivers or the seashore).

IconsFanatic · Joined: 19 Jan 2003

A fair of amount of birds here in Busan, especially magpies, around spring and autumn.

I'm actually off to Busan's bird sanctuary this Sunday. Hoot hoot!

Zed · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Shakedown Street

Is the Busan bird sanctuary a swamp or more field-like? How do you get around there? Can you walk or do you need a canoe or something?

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

Zed: If you're down in Pusan, I believe there are better places to go birdwatching, such as the nakdong estuary or Upo wetland. Checkout the website i posted earlier. Try and get a pair of binoculars for your day out.
If you want to see wild birds, there is no need to go to a special sanctuary- try a woodland, mountain, river, lake, or even take a stroll around the rice paddies.

Kwangjuchicken

Drakoi · Joined: 26 Sep 2003 Location: The World

visviva · Joined: 03 Feb 2003 Location: Daegu

Good birding around Seosan (west coast). Alas, I'm no longer in those parts.

As for white-naped cranes (Grus vipio) -- in April, I could hear flocks of cranes passing high over Waegwan, an ugly little town which squats alongside the Nakdong river in southern Gyeongbuk. I recognized their funny burbling call at once, so much like that of the sandhill cranes I knew in the Midwestern US. They seemed to be heading northeast, as far as I could tell. Do these birds have a regular stopping place south of the DMZ?

kiwioutofthenest · Joined: 29 Jan 2003

I saw one once whilst climbing Gia-san didn't realise i had missed them till i saw one.

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

Visviva: The white naped prefer the north of the peninsula. Saw some near the DMZ last month. But you can still see them in smaller numbers on suitable wetlands like seosan, or Upo and Junam down near Pusan.
Apparently theres more hooded cranes down that way.
Are you still in Korea/ still birdwatching? Pm me!

Beeg · Joined: 05 Oct 2003

Beeg · Joined: 05 Oct 2003

On the subject of Korean birds I thought I would post this, I saw in written on a BBC website its by an English kid who wants to save Koreas little birdies. Its not much but does give you a good idea of why there are no birds in Korea

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Matthew reports on their first project.

"I wish to inform you of a grave problem in South Korea, where the wetlands of Saemangeum are under threat due to the construction of a new dam.

I belong to a school environmental group called EcoPrior, and the protection of Saemangeum is our first project.

We are a group of teenagers dedicated to protect the environment.

Protest with a purpose

The Korean Government stopped the building work on the dam due to protest.

The courts in South Korea are now deciding if they should continue with the construction of this dam.

A wide variety of bird species live near the dam
What about birds and their habitat?

If it does go ahead, then 26 species of birds will be threatened, as their unique habitat will be destroyed.

Some will continue to live in other places, but unfortunately others such as the Spoon-billed Sandpiper will become extinct within years.

Things that may help

In order to save their environment, publicity is needed to inform and protect the only remaining wetlands in South Korea where these species live."

Mathew, 16, Bath
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Drakoi · Joined: 26 Sep 2003 Location: The World

come to think of it, the only birds I've really noticed since being here are some neat little black ones with red splotches and blue ones with white splotches, I have no idea what either are called.

I saw those in the countryside right outside of seoul. And of course the multitude of pigeons in the city.

coolsage · Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2003 9:22 am Post subject:

Lots of LBJ's (little brown jobs) in these parts; sparrows and swallows, and the ubiquitous magpies, and I once flushed a pheasant in the woods on the way home (her home, not mine). And do you know why you never see baby seagulls or baby crows? Because they stay at home until they're old enough to go to college.