Birds and Birders

Yesterday I got motivated to get out of my room and go brave the cold in search of birds. I took the subway to Eungbong again in hopes of maybe finding some new waterfowl. Once I got to the river and began looking to see what was there, I met Ma, who works for the Korea Federation for Environmental Movement. He asked me if I liked looking at birds (in very good English) and we talked for a few minutes.

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.

Dobongsan Hiking

Saturday, a few friends and I decided to take a hike. We hopped the subway to Dobongsan Station and followed the crowd up the mountain. You have to love a country where you can take the subway to a national park!

We naturally decided to go to the top, which was what a lot of other Koreans were doing as well. I have never seen a hiking trail so busy anywhere. Here's a picture of a couple of my stalwart companions. If it looks steep, it was, but this part had steps, so, actually, it was one of the easier sections!



But we did not have a corner on stalwartness by any means. Young and old, male and female were trekking as well on this sunny Saturday. One that really turned my head was this gentleman....yes, he's barefoot.



As we got closer to the summit, we had some good views. (They could have been better but smog is a pretty common thing here.) Through the mist, this is Seoul.



The hike got progressively steeper with more and more challenging terrain. Here is a picture from the summit of the last little bit. There is a handrail...and lots of rock. No steps. Just grab, grunt and go.




From the top we had great views. I could even see the reservoir I rode my bike to a while ago. (See several posts down)




What's that? Yes, this is primarily a bird blog. I saw several Eurasian Nuthatches (Sitta europaea) while on our hike. I tried in vain to get a photo. Out of all my clicking, this is the best I managed. Quite possibly the world's worst nuthatch photo ever. But, I feel obliged to include something with wings in most of my posts. (No, trust me, it was a bird...the blurry thing behind the twigs, really...)



According to my GPS we covered about 6 miles and went up about 2,200 vertical feet. Well, after a lot of walking on this long weekend, I'm just going to sit here with my feet up for a while. Until next time, keep sauntering on.

Han River Near Seoul Forest

Friday I took the subway to Eungbong Station on the light blue line. Once I got off, I made my way to the river and walked toward where this particular riuver meets the Han River. (I never did figure out the name of this tributary--I walked west toward Oksu Station.) Along this walk I saw several species of ducks and grebes.

Species I saw included Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula), Spot-billed Duck (Anas poecilorhncha), Mallard (Anas platyrynchos), and Northern Pintail (Anas acuta).



I also saw Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata), CommonPochard (Aythya ferina) and Eurasian Teal (Anas crecca).



I tried to get pictures of everything, but my 10x zoom on my camera just isn't enough to reach out and get good waterfowl shots. Some of the other ones that escaped good photographs included Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), Common Merganser (Mergus merganser), Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) and Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus).

As I worked my way back to the subway, I stumbled across "Seoul Forest," which looks like a small wildlife park with a few different species of native deer. From the over-head walkway I caught this picture of a Grey Heron.



Thanks to some of my new-found friends on the Birds Korea forum for the tip on this spot.

Green Mile with a Special Guest

It has been entirely too long since I took my camera in search of wildlife. But today I took my wife on the "Green Mile." She is over here visiting from the states and we are very much enjoying our time together. Here's our lovely guest photographer now....



We were greeted by a couple of Korean Chipmunks on the wall early on in our stroll. They were fairly tolerant of our approach, and quite cute.



We also saw several spiders (surprise, surprise--these things are everywhere.) This one had apparently dispatched a dragonfly fairly recently. By the look of it, they are quite filling. I wonder if it lost one of its legs in the battle?




Toward the end of our walk, my guest photographer took some pictures of Uijeongbu and also the traditional burial mounds on post.



Meanwhile, I was busy snapping pictures of a Brown Shrike.





The shrike was a lifer...all the more sweet because I shared it with my wife. Thanks again for joining us on our walk.

Guest Writer

Today we have a guest writer, sort of. One of my favorites, Henry David Thoreau and the first few paragraphs of his essay "Walking." I recently discovered this essay and especially like these few paragraphs. Classic Thoreau through and through.

I WISH TO SPEAK a word for nature, for absolute Freedom and Wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and Culture merely civil,—to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society. I wish to make an extreme statement, if so I may make a emphatic one, for there are enough champions of civilization; the minister, and the school-committee, and every one of you will take care of that.

I have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who understood the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks, who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering; which word is beautifully derived "from idle people who roved about the country, in the middle ages, and asked charity, under pretence of going à la sainte terre"—to the holy land, till the children exclaimed, "There goes a sainte-terrer", a saunterer—a holy-lander. They who never go to the holy land in their walks, as they pretend, are indeed mere idlers and vagabonds, but they who do go there are saunterers in the good sense, such as I mean. Some, however, would derive the word from sans terre, without land or a home, which, therefore, in the good sense, will mean, having no particular home, but equally at home everywhere. For this is the secret of successful sauntering. He who sits still in a house all the time may be the greatest vagrant of all, but the Saunterer, in the good sense, is no more vagrant than the meandering river, which is all the while sedulously seeking the shortest course to the sea. But I prefer the first, which indeed is the most probable derivation. For every walk is a sort of crusade, preached by some Peter the Hermit in us, to go forth and reconquer this holy land from the hands of the Infidels.

It is true, we are but faint hearted crusaders, even the walkers, now-a-days, who undertake no persevering never ending enterprises. Our expeditions are but tours and come round again at evening to the old hearth side from which we set out. Half the walk is but retracing our steps. We should go forth on the shortest walk, perchance, in the spirit of undying adventure, never to return; prepared to send back our embalmed hearts only, as relics to our desolate kingdoms. If you are ready to leave father and mother, and brother and sister, and wife and child and friends, and never see them again; if you have paid your debts, and made your will, and settled all your affairs, and are a free man; then you are ready for a walk.