2025-09-05: Herping the Arboretum

 In early September I met up with visiting researcher Dr. Ru Somaweera, to help him in finding some local Jeju amphibians and reptiles. I decided to go with Halla Arboretum because it's close to the city and there's records for nearly all of the amphibians and reptiles of Jeju there. 

We got incredibly lucky, partly due to my local knowledge, but also of his absolute expertise in finding species from these two groups. The most impressive was finding a Jeju Salamander in the tail end of summer, something I thought would be fairly difficult. We also found some frogs and snake species. A very successful trip and wonderful to show Dr. Ru around a little bit.

He has a successful Youtube channel, mostly in his native Sri Lankan, check out the Jeju video here:

Hynobius quelpaertensis

Rana uenoi

Bombina orientalis

Gloydius ussuriensis

2025-06: Liaoning, China

A long-weekend visit to Liaoning province in northeastern China with a good friend, Dr. Amael Borzee (one of the leading amphibian experts of northeast Asia!). The plan was to take the ferry from Incheon to Dandong, drive along the border with North Korea, and then head up to the mountains and then depart from Shenyang. It was an ambitious plan, and admittedly we didn't have enough time for half of what we planned, but a lot of amazing habitat was explored and saw many familiar species and a few new ones. What a beautiful area to visit, and hope to see it again in the future.

North Korean fishing vessel

Chinese Pond Heron

North Korean government building along the Yalu River (압록강)

Stejneger's Stonechat (soon to be relumped with Siberian Stonechat with the upcoming Avilist update)

Swinhoe's White-eye

Manchurian Ratsnake or Korean Ratsnake? Seems some confusion between these two species, and opinions differ among experts.

Forest Wagtail

Blue-and-White Flycatcher

Neptis sp.

Eastern Crowned Warbler

Papilo sp.

Ring-necked Pheasant

Long-tailed Rosefinch

Pallas' Leaf Warbler

Oriental Fire-bellied Toad

Manchurian Rat Snake- this individual was very large, and the black and yellow contrast makes the ID much easier than the younger one seen the day before.

Siberian Chipmunk

Black Woodpecker!

White-backed Woodpecker

Eurasian Kestrel

White Wagtail

Azure-winged Magpie

Common Swift, my only bird lifer of the trip. Seen flying around Shenyang Airport, moments before I had to check in and depart.

Common Swift