Saturday 16 May 2020

A Korea (sic) in Birding

Having used the Heading for Thursday's Post as
Birding in Korea
it was felt an anagram of that would fit perfectly as a header for Part II
At noon alone with Lee (a Christian) we headed off to a
Buddhist Temple
to meet the ladies (all of that faith)
his wife Jongsoo Choi (left), 6 years old daughter Saeyeon
and her auntie who's name escapes me.
The aim of the temple is not just to highlight the faith but also provide 
food for rich or poor alike and after meeting the
ABBOT
(yes, rather suprised me at the time to be the same as Christianity)
 a fine and flavoursome
 Korean Meal
 Posing on the Temple steps with Saeyeon
and even allowed to strike the
Dinner Bell
(when the Dinner Lady got out of the way)
They all seemed to be champing at the bit to get back into the Wilds,
so that is where we headed finding
c3 species of Stork within the first hour, but there were also,

DANGERS
remnants of the Korean War where the
North, supported by China and Russia were fighting the South along with the United Nations
(in fact in many cases family fighting family.)
 HOODED CRANE
the scarcer of the 3 species,
 WHITE-NAPPED CRANE
holding the middle ground along with the
most numerous
RED-CROWNED CRANE 
and a bit of a mix.
 At the frozen reseroir
 there were many dozens of
 CINEREOUS VULTURE
a species we had become familiar with during our 2001
jeep trek across the Mongolian Mountain Steppe
with just the odd but all immature
WHITE-TAILED EAGLE
just below the clump on the left.
A fitting end to the day was the finding of one of the 'rarest' birds on
EARTH
the "seriously endngered"
ORIENTAL WHITE STORK
At some time, when the going once again gets tough, there will be a 3rd part to this series,
and one of the most facinating birding events seen across 4 decades 
of embracing the hobby!