Note: This is the first of three (planned) renamed, retyped, and revised
replies that I sent to "Seoul and Swallows" of May 8, 1997. If these
latest versions are archived by Tweeters, then they will be available to
anyone who wishes to read some background information about Korean birding.
There does not seem to be much information floating about, either here or in
the ABA catalog.


I was stationed in South Korea back in 1961-64. Although I was
obsessively interested in "birdwatching" as a teenager in Wisconsin and
Florida, in my early Army years I was only an occasional "closet" birder.

In Korea I had no field guide or other local references. For the most
part I was stationed in Taegu, or ranged out from there. Taegu was a
dusty/muddy mass of humanity in those days. For example, the main
highway connecting Pusan and Seoul was not yet paved in that stretch.
I did get up to Seoul on occasion, usually on official business, and
spent idle hours at the NCO Club overlooking the Han River atop a steep
bluff. Unfortunately, I do not remember Seoul area birds much, excepr
for a Black Kite (Milvus migrans) sailing close by the club. Speaking of
Black Kites, they were the most conspicuous birds in Hong Kong in
February, 1969, where I saw them plucking floating offal from the surface
of the water in the harbor area.

I do remember a handful of species in other parts of South Korea well
enough to check them off my subsequent Asian and life lists. Most of
those, such as the Gray Heron, Black Kite, Common Pheasant,
Great-Spotted Woodpecker, Skylark, Crested Lark, Magpie, Pied Wagtail,
Gray Wagtail, Bullfinch, and the ubiquitous Eurasian Tree Sparrow, are
familiar to European birders and which I had either seen or was familiar
through my German field guide, and which I added in later German tours of
duty. The rest would be deduced later, when possible. There were lots of
gulls at Pohang, plus occasional terns. I could only identify one gull
species and two terns (the commonest species of each) later after I
gained access to a field guide and reference book. Any other gull
species would have to wait for future birders. For example, I thought
at the time that the white-headed gulls with a broad black tail band must
have been sub-adults of some other species. Instead they turned out to be
Black-Tailed Gulls.

The countryside gets greener to the west of Taegu, but I did not take
advantage of it. I saw a tantalyzing area with lots of deciduous trees
and ponds there once while on a training march - ugh! I also heard a
Common Cuckoo on several occasions, but never managed to spot one (in
Korea). But now that I learned "heard birds" count (ABA rules), I
checked it off. Most of my resulting Korean list was constructed from memory
after consulting various bird books after I left there. But it still only
numbers less than 30 positve ID's.

I would not have answered the original message requesting information
about birding locations around Seoul, except for my bombshell sighting!
There is one species which I hesitate to check off, even though I am
positive I saw it (2 individuals), and may count it afterall. That
species, now called the Red Crowned Crane, but back then known -
appropriately in this case - as the Manchurian Crane. I am not even sure
of the year, either 1962 or 63, but I am sure of the event. I was
bouncing along in an old Army 3/4 ton truck with two of my crew (Post
Engineers). We heading toward one of those ugly communications sites
situated on top of a mountain (actually the base camp lower down),
between Waegwon and Kimchon. Just after we crossed the bridge over the
Naktong River, we came upon several Gray Herons and two startlingly black
and white, long legged birds in a lightly flooded area below the highway,
probably a rice paddy, but with the herons there, maybe a fish pond.
Although as tall as the herons, more or less, they seemed to have longer
legs, giving them a delicate look. One of the cranes flew from one spot
to another, revealing its unusual black and white wing pattern. I recall
that the wing pattern was unusual, compared with other large white birds
with black in their wings, in that the tips were white, not black. That
was the clincher later on when I did some research, both in books and
at the West Berlin Zoo (I was stationed in Berlin both before and after
Korea). The cranes and most of the herons had vanished by the time we
retraced our route on the way back to camp. It was as if there had been
a human disturbance. I have often thought about that incident over the years.

One final note. Buddhist monestaries are good places for birding! They
are usually surrounded by ancient, often gnarled trees, which are sadly
lacking elsewhere in the country. I plan to relate more on this subject
in Korea Bird Memoirs #2 or #3.

Phil Hotlen
Bellingham, WA