To whom it may interest,

I thought I'd post my own reply message, in case anyone might be interested.
I hope I don't come across as bragging, etc.

Phil Hotlen, Bellingham, WA.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 10 May 1997 15:18:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: Phil Hotlen <n8540420 at janice.cc.wwu.edu>
To: tbesser at vetmed.wsu.edu
Subject: re: Seoul & Swallows

Hello Tom,

This is just another of my periodic "two cents worth" kind of replies.

I was stationed in So. Korea back in 1961-64. Although I was interested
in "birdwatching" as a teenager and earlier, in my earl Army years I was
only an occassional "closet" birer.

I had no bird guide (=bird book) while I was there. For the most part, I
was stationed in Taegu, a rather dusty/muddy mass of humanity in those days.
For example, the main highway connecting Pusan and Seoul was not yet paved!
I did get up to Seoul on occassion, and hung out at an NCO Club on the
bluff overlooking the Han River. Unfortuneately, I don't recall the birds
there.

I do remember a handful of species in other parts of Korea well enough to
check off on my life list. though. Most of those, such as the
Great-Spotted Woodpecker, Common Pheasant, Bullfinch, Pied Wagtail,
Gray Wagtail, Gray Heron, skylark, and Passer montanus, I saw in Germany.
There were lots of Gulls at Pohang, but I did not try to ID them (no bird
book). There was an oasis, relatively speaking, just to the West of Taegu
with lots of passerines in Summer, but I did not have a car to get around.
I also heard a common Cuckoo on several occassions, but never managed to
see it. But now that we can count heard birds, I will count it.

I would not have answered this message, except for a bombshell! There is
one species for which I hesitate to check off, even though I am positive
that I saw it (2 individuals), And may eventually count it afterall.
That species is now called the Red-Crowned Crane! I still want to think
of it by its old common name - Manchurian Crane (more appropriate in this
case). I am not even sure what year it was - probably 1962 or 63. I was
bouncing along in a 3/4 ton truck with my Korean crew (Post Engineers),
heading to a small military communications site on a mountain up past
Waegwan. We crossed the bridge over the Noktong (spelling?) River. To
the right there was a large flooded area (rice paddies or fish ponds?) on
bench above the river. In it were quite a few Gray Herons and two
startlingly black and white long-legged birds actively foraging and, at
one point, flying to a new position. They appeared somewhat more
delicately built than the herons. I recall that the wing pattern was
unusual, compared with the normal black-tipped pattern in other large
white birds.

Later on, and over the years since then, I've looked up all that I could
on the subject, and still believe they were Cranes - not Oriental White
Storks or White-Naped Cranes. Somewhere I read that the lower Noktong River
used to be a traditional wintering ground for these and other cranes.
Also since that time I visited the crane collection at the West Berlin Zoo.
At the time of my visit, almost every species of Crane was on exhibit.

A final note. Budhist (spelling?) Temples are good places for bird
watching! They usually have ancient gnarled trees etc., which are sadly
lacking elsewhere. There must be tour buses going out to those locations.
Also, there is a National Park to the east of Seoul, which is (or was)
supposed to have a relict population of White-Bellied Black Woodpeckers
(Dryocopus sp.).

I hope I haven't bored you too much. I envy you and your opportunity!

Phil Hotlen <n8540420 at henson.cc.wwu.edu>

p.s. I am losing my email account, since I no longer am an active Student.
So it's back to snail mail for me, at least for awhile.