After scouting around for a month and a half at the Arboretum, I had finally gotten a clear look at one of the nesting Boobooks. Unfortunately the weather was atrocious so I only managed some zoomed in shots with my point and shoot camera. But one turned out OK, and it'll do for now.
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| Boobook, with bright eyes (lit up by flash, unfortunately) |
As spring is already here, I'm going to post a few of my favourite photos from January to March of this year, and then move on with what's happening now. Maybe I'll return to these sightings in more detail down the road, but unlikely. I'll group them up by general location with a few details in each.
For the first one, here are some highlights from the Halla Arboretum this winter.
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| Some mornings I would find Rooks resting on street wires. |
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| Pale Thrushes were consistantly in high numbers during my visits. |
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| A couple mornings I was lucky enough to get clear views of wrens hopping around. |
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| While Eastern and Varied Tits are common sights at the Arboretum, Coal Tits and Yellow-bellied Tits would sometimes show up as well. |
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| Oddly enough I stumbled across a Grey-backed Thrush (two on one day), it must have been overwintering. |
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| Japanese Bush Warblers were much easier to see before the leaves grew in. |
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| Grey Bunting, one of my target birds for this winter. I knew they were on Jeju fairly regularly in winter, but I only saw this individual (female?), and only on two different days in mid February. |
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| A rather confiding White's Thrush that was bouncing along the leaves. |
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| Yellow-browed Leaf Warbler, another surprising overwintering bird. I expect to see and hear more of these as spring proceeds. |
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| A lucky flight shot of a Red-flanked Bluetail. |
A brief trip to Halla Arboretum earlier in the week yielded the regular species, plenty of Large-billed Crows, Magpies, Bulbuls, White-eyes, Bush Warblers etc. A couple Yellow-bellied Tits (possibly more?) was a nice surprise.
Another interesting encounter was a somewhat orangey Yellow-throated Bunting. Usually they're fairly yellow, like a lemon, but this one was almost orangey like... an orange. I got some photos but the colouration doesn't exactly stand out as it did in person. I'm not sure if this is within normal colour variation for the species, or something more unusual. After discussing it with others, it seems a high level or carotenoids in the diet, particularly while moulting, could be the cause.
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| Yellow-throated Bunting looking particularly orange. The photo really doesn't reflect the actual colours seen in person. |
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| The orangey Yellow-throated Bunting |
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| The back of the head was particularly orange. |
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| One more shot of the orangey feathers. |
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| As usual, Large-billed crows were ubiquitious and active throughout the area. |
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| A sneaky shot of an Eastern Buzzard before it saw me and took off. |
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| Jeju White-backed Woodpecker / 큰오색딱따구리 / Dendrocopos leucotos, waiting to dive in on that Jeju orange. |
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| Is it eating insects inside, or the orange itself? |
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| Bull-headed Shrike / 때까치 / Lanius bucephalus |
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| Pale Thrush / 흰배지빠귀 / Turdus pallidus |
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| Cinereous Vulture / 독수리 / Aegypius monachus |
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| Siberian Roe Deer / 노루 / Capreolus capreolus |