It just so happened he had a group of about 15 Korean birders there and invited me to join them, which I readily accepted. We were soon joined by Barry, and Australian who has been teaching in Korea for about 5 years.
We spent the rest of the afternoon together birding along the river. We didn't see much out of the ordinary, but it was fun to be in the company of birders again.
Tufted Ducks Aythya fuligula were present in the deeper waters.
Eurasian Teal Anas creca were plentiful and some were close enough to photograph with my 10x digital camera.
Spot-billed Duck Anas poecilorhynca were found farther upstream, here with a teal, giving a good idea of comparative size of the two birds.
And some Pochard Aythya ferina were also present in good numbers.
As the sun set, I was invited to join the group for dinner, which I did. We went and ate Chinese at a nearby restaurant. I was pleased to find out that some birding traditions seem to be universal. After we were done eating one of the group members stood up and, I finally figured out, started listing off all the species the group had tallied for the day. (In Hangul, of course.) It took me back to birding with the Stockbridge Audubon Society in Indiana.
Once dinner was done and conversation run out, we dispersed into the night. I was quite happy to have fallen in with some fellow birders. I was able to expand my belief that birders are generally very nice folks, to include Koreans and Australians today.
