Hello Tweets and Inlanders,

Over the last week, I finally broke out of the birding doldrums of Qingdao, and
did some sightseeing and birding in Korea and Beijing, China. Even though my
time frame was rather constricted, I had some incredibly good luck with both the
weather and the key birds on this trip.

After my plans with a birding guide in Korea fell through, I opted to stay three
days with a Korean family that were friends with members of my church. My host
family even arranged to take my on a tour of the DMZ, meet with a local
environmentalist, and see some of the sites of Seoul.

As expected the weather was cold, but dry. There had been a major snowstorm and
bitter cold the previous week, but it was mostly sunny and calm during my visit
there.

On the drive from the Incheon Airport, I saw my first lifer in Korea. It was an
EASTERN BUZZARD perched on a power pole. Crossing a bridge in Budong, I was
treated to a view of a raft of EASTERN SPOTBILLED DUCKs. The Spotbills proved
far more striking in their bold markings than how I previously thought that
they would appear.

My host family treated me like one of the family, and I was fed plenty of good
Korean food. The teenage daughter (Minkyoung) spoke fairly good English and
could translate for me.

On February 14th, 2011, we took a two hour coach ride to the DMZ. It was rather
foggy in the morning,and the coach windows were constantly frosted over.
Obviously, I couldn't stop the coach whenever I saw birds. Due to some of the
passengers being an hour late, our trip to the DMZ was rushed. There was very
little time to linger anywhere, take photos, or bird much for passerines.

However, the top three birds that the tour guide did stop for were really quite
smashing though. Rare and beautiful WHITE-NAPEDCRANEs, RED-CROWNED CRANEs, and
the prehistoric looking MONK (CINEROUS VULTUREs). The Vultures were so enormous
and woolly, that they looked like ice age relicts that had somehow slipped
through the time barrier and had ended up in DMZ. While viewing the vultures at
close range, I noted LARGE-BILLED CROWs, a couple of CARRION CROWs (sometimes
considered Oriental Crow), and a ROOK chasing an EASTERN BUZZARD. Later, I saw
a CHINESE WATER DEER on the edge of a frozen lake.

>From an observation tower, we could see the not so distant hills of North
Korea, numerous outposts, bunkers, and the DMZ demarcation fences that stretched
across the rugged landscape and gave definition to the "no man's land"
.Ironically, it was Valentine's Day, and I spending it in the Iron Triangle
Battlefield near the frozen border with North Korea. I'm such a romantic!

At the WolJeong ri Station, there is the twisted, bullet riddled, wreckage of
the last train that tried to make one more run between and North and South
Korea. Obviously, it didn't make it. Birds at the station, included GREAT
SPOTTED WOODPECKER and MEADOW BUNTING.

Other surreal images of the DMZ include bombed out buildings from the Korean War
such as a bank, an agricultural inspection station, and the infamous Labor Party
Headquarters of the North Koreans (many anti-communist dissidents were
apparently executed there).

On my second day in Korea (February 15, 2011), we met up with a very pleasant
gentleman/environmentalist who was a nascent birder. Since he offered to take
us to the Han River to look for birds, I was excited about the prospect of
seeing some of my East Asian target species.

Upon arriving at Dek So in Ha Nam City, I was scanning the open water and seeing
EURASIAN COOT (lifer), COMMON & RED-BREASTED MERGANSERs, COMMON POCHARD, LITTLE
GREBE, E. SPOT-BILLED DUCKs, MALLARD, C. GOLDENEYE, WHOOPER SWANs,
and sizeable flock of TUFTED DUCKs. Scoping a more distant ice shelf, I could
see something that I had only dreamed about. There were two spectacular
adult STELLER'S SEA EAGLEs standing close together on the river ice and feeding
on a fish! A WHITE-TAILED SEA EAGLE, and a CARRION CROW were also there for
good measure. .At this point, the weather was clear and sunny and visibility was
excellent.

Tearing ourselves away from the sea eagles was difficult, but our second stop
was on Dang Jong Island. The river there is rocky and fast flowing. As we walked
to the riverside, a SIBERIAN Weasel (Mustela siberica corneaus) popped out of
rocky crevice and showed off its thick yellow fur. The Siberian Weasel body size
is intermediate between our slinky Long-tailed Weasel and the more robust Pine
Marten.

While scanning through a flock of loafing TUNDRA BEAN GEESE, a JAPANESE WAGTAIL
landed on the nearest small rocky island from our vantage point. About thirty
seconds later, a calling LONG-BILLED PLOVER landed on the same island. It was
rather extraordinary to see two lifer East Asian endemics appearing as bookends
in the same scope view, while an elegant WHOOPER SWAN acted as the center piece
for the entire vignette. Wrapping up our little tour of the Han River, we saw a
couple of familiar faces, NORTHERN PINTAIL and NORTHERN SHOVELER.

Returning to Seoul, we visited the Changeyeong Palace. The grounds around the
palace held friendly BROWN-EARED BULBULs, jaunty LONG-TAILED TITs (magnus race),
stunning MANDARIN DUCKs, COAL TITs (some rather scrufffy looking), GREAT
EASTERN TITs, and a EURASIAN NUTHATCH (amurensis race).

On my final day in Korea, we visited the Shingu Botanical Gardens in Seongnam.
The skies held a thin overcast, but again there was no wind.

Upon entering the gate to the botanical gardens, a colorfu VARIED TIT greeted
us. All the other tit species (i.e. Great Eastern, Coal, Marsh, and Long-tailed)
were present as well. Meanwhile, a flock of VINOUS-THROATED PARROTBILLs scooted
though the underbrush. Cute little JAPANESE PYGMY WOODPECKERs worked the trees,
and a couple of ELEGANT BUNTINGs andGOLDCRESTs made an appearance.

On hike in the forest of Cheangye San (Mountain), we negotiated rather slippery
snow packed paths. As a calling ROOK delivered it's full vocal repertoire, a
SIBERIAN CHIPMUNK scampered over a stone wall. BTW, the Siberian Chipmunk
(Tamias sibiricus) is the only member of it's genus outside of North America.

I was quite sad to goodbye to my Korean family, and my whole Korean experience
was truly wondeful. The Korean people are very friendly, helpful, and generous.
Although there is rather heavy traffic in capitol city, Seoul displays a
wonderful mixture of its ancient architecture balanced with the contemporary.
Birds are active through out the city in numerous parks and green belts.

After my flight to Beijing, I stayed in the Jin Jiang Hotel. My plan on February
17th, was to tour the main sights of China's capitol city. Fortunately, I can
speak enough Chinese to order some food , and give addresses to taxi drivers.
Getting up early, I took a taxi toTian'amen Square.

Surprisingly, it was not that crowded, and I had a Chinese person take a picture
of me under the big Mao poster on the wall ofTian'anmen. On the other side of
the street, there were electronic propaganda screens showing heroes of the
revolution, a few assorted statues, etc.

I then made my way into the Forbidden City (Imperial Palace). Inside the gates
of the Forbidden City, one certainly enters a very different world. After
walking some distance around one of the palaces of the inner court, I noticed a
flock of interesting birds landing in some conifers in the west corridor
section of the city. As I suspected, they turned out to be a flock of
WHITE-CHEEKEDSTARLINGs. Within the confines of the fascinating Imperial Garden,
a White-cheeked Starling was singing up a storm. It was great fun to tick a
lifer in the Forbidden City!. I celebrated my enjoyable morning with an early
lunch in the Palace Cafe

Exiting the Forbidden City, I was back in Tian'anmen and watched a Chinese
Military Guard perform some of their duties. After an impromptu chat with a
roving English speaking Chinese guide, I decided to hire him for the rest of the
day for 150 kuai. At that point, it would be more fun for me to have someone to
talk to, and to show me around more.

Our next destination was the Temple of Heaven. The Beijing bus system is an
inexpensive way to get around the city, and we arrived at the temple in the late
morning. Aside from the beautiful temple buildings, there are extensive grounds
of junipers and cypresses. AZURE-WINGED MAGPIEs seem to be especially abundant
here. Other great birds in the Temple of Heaven included RED-BILLED
BLUE MAGPIEs (with their incredible damselfly tails), CHINESE BULBULs, and a
totally unexpected flock of RED-BILLEDLEIOTHRIX.

My guide "Bob" (English name), and I then had lunch, shopped a bit in market,
and then toured the Temple of Confuscious. Since it was Latern Day (the last day
of the Spring Festival), some of the hutongs (traditional architecture buildings
along alleys) were decorated with festive red lanterns. We ended the tour day
with a charming Chinese tea ceremony.

On the taxi ride back to my hotel, I opted to try for the four species of
thrushes that were recently seen in Olympic Forest Park. Although I was rather
tired from a long but highly enjoyable day, I covered the 400 meters to the site
in the park with great alacrity. The sun was setting and I had not time to
loose. Fortunately, the thrushes were perched high in the leafless poplars.
There weren't nearly as many as had been reported earlier, but I did see all
four species.Most of them were females or first winter birds, but I did see
NAUMANN'S THRUSH (the most common species of the lot), one DUSKY THRUSH,three
BLACK-THROATED THRUSH, and a couple of RED-THROATED THRUSH. For a largely
non-birding day, I managed to actually see a lot of birds!