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On Apr 11, 2025, at 19:15, Derek Matthews via groups.io <Derek@...> wrote:

Thanks Dan!

Yeah, the situation with the South Korean military was bizarre really. We had a GPS location for the cranes and made our way to the place when we came up to a serious road block with concrete barricades, an electric gate, a Humvee and soldiers with guns so we stopped and the soldiers came to the car - we tried to explain what we were doing but trust me Google translate doesn't work in Korea so we showed them the picture of the crane and our bins and tried to explain what we were doing. They didn't understand so went and got their officer who came out - he was really nice but again didn't have a word of English so again we tried to explain what we were doing. He finally gave us the address of an office which we worked out was where we had to go to get a special permit to go in, so we thanked him and turned around and decided not to bother and to just go off birding. We drove off and later found a farming track which we went down and threaded our way in to a lovely area with no people and lots of birds AND found the cranes!

The bizarre thing was that we spent the morning birding here which was fabulous and after a few hours found ourselves on the OTHERSIDE of the military barrier! It was crazy - that's when we made a hasty retreat back the way we had come and left the area but we honestly didn't know!

Anyway, it was worth it! :o) Here's the video of the cranes:

Happy birding!

Derek

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Daniel Bastaja via groups.io
Sent: April 11, 2025 12:54 AM
To: Vanbirds <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [vanbcbirds] Australia and South Korea Trip Report

Derek.. what an amazing trip! Thanks for sharing!

Very lucky on the Chinese Crested Terns! That’s supposed to be one of the rarest birds in the world. Nice! Also lucky you didn’t wind up in a Korean prison. In a restricted military zone with binoculars, cameras, etc.?? OMG! Did you ever see the 1980 film The Dogs of War starring Christopher Walken? He’s a spy posing as a birdwatcher! If you got stopped by soldiers, you better hope none of them have seen that film! :D :D

A lot of countries have restrictions for things that could be construed as military accoutrements. Some countries won’t allow you to bring in night vision stuff. Birders I know went to Algeria for the endemic nuthatch, and you are not allowed to bring binoculars or telescopes into the country. So they had to go birding with no optics! In Egypt you are not allowed to wear anything camo. Crazy stuff!

You actually got budgies and Mandarin Ducks on your life list! In the wild in their natural ranges. How cool is that?

Daniel Bastaja
danielbastaja@... <mailto:danielbastaja@...>

On Apr 10, 2025, at 20:34, Derek Matthews via groups.io <Derek@...> wrote:

We have just completed a 5-week birding trip to Australia and South Korea.
Australia (Western Australia and Northern Territory) Australia is an interesting country to bird because it lacks really harsh winters and has few land barriers; and because it has irregular rainfall and periodic drought, bird migration differs from North America and Eurasia with many species making shorter migrations, with much irregular nomadism as birds roam in search of food and water resources.
Almost all Australian bird species to a greater or lesser degree, are bound by this unpredictable rainfall which makes Australian birds unique in many ways and difficult to find in others!
Our travels initially took us to Sydney to see family before heading to bird Western and Central (Northern Territory) Australia for 14 days. As this was our sixth trip to Oz, we were familiar with the birds and knew the species we wanted, so we drove ourselves and did not use a guide.
We flew from Sydney to Perth where we picked up a car and drove to Rose Heritage Café, a site known for good bird diversity and we weren’t disappointed with thousands of New Holland Honeyeaters among a ton of other species and we managed to ID everything we saw which was a great start. From there we drove south to Bikra Lake which was quite dry but in a small area of water found our target species (Banded Stilt).
From there we drove 2 hours south-east to Dryrandra Forest and Towerinning Lake and on to Pemberton where we spent a morning at Big Brook Dam where we managed 4 more of our target species (Western Gerygone, Red-winged Fairy Wren, Little Eagle, and Red-capped Parrot.
From there we headed east to Kodjinnup Nature Reserve and found our target Baudin’s Cockatoo. On to Porangurrup Park but dipped on our target Western Shriketit. On to Arpenteur where our targets were equally elusive despite several hours hiking and intensive birding!
We left WA for our flight to Alice Springs where our first stop was Simpson’s Gap in the W. McDonnell Park, a stunning area where we added a few more life birds. From there we drove down the Santa Teresa Road and in to the wilderness of the Australian outback. We spent 2 days birding this area which is vast and therefore difficult to bird but finally managed 3 more life birds including great views of Bourke’s Parrot which we had down as only a slight chance of seeing so we were very happy with that!
From there we did the long drive west along the Lasseter Highway to Yularu and the national park of Uluru Rock (Ayers Rock). This area is absolutely stunning and the sunrises and sunsets over Uluru and the Kata Tjuta rock formations were amazing! Some hard-to-get species in this vast area included Budgerigar, White-winged Triller, Rufous Song Lark, and Black-breasted Buzard.
We managed 116 species on this leg of the trip of which 37 were new for us – our target was 40 new so overall we were pretty happy.
Australia is an amazing country with great infrastructure, nice hotels, excellent food, good roads, and realistic speed limits which means you can set adaptive cruise control to 120 kph which eats up the distances between birding locations which are substantial.
South Korea
South Korea is a fascinating country but with a population of over 50 million people packed in to an area about a tenth of the size of BC means that little remains of native forests. Having said that the infrastructure is amazing with insane high tec cities, enormous buildings which seemingly defy gravity, nice hotels, and crazy freeways, roads, and suspended bridges. It borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and the Sea of Japan to the east.
Having done a fair bit of birding in SE Asia, again we were familiar with the birds and knew the handful of species we wanted, so we drove ourselves and did not use a guide.
We managed 76 species of which just 18 were new for us although two of these were very special birds worth mentioning. Without a word of Korean between us we inadvertently managed to dodge the South Korean military at a road block and stray in to the DMZ where we found THREE White-naped Cranes and got photos and video of these stunning birds but afterwards realized we were in a restricted area and were so glad we weren’t arrested!
But the real star and species we definitely weren’t expecting was the critically endangered Chinese Crested Tern! With perhaps less than 100 individuals remaining and very little known about its life habits, this critically endangered species has only been recorded at one tiny spot in South Korea so we drove to Gusipo beach without much hope of finding it. The beach is a massive stretch of land spanning several miles along the coast so it was another needle in a haystack search; we combed the first beach and pier and jetty with no luck so decided to drive along the second beach by which time the tide had gone out, we pulled in to another spot to scan the beach and found TWO of them perched on pilings – we ran down the beach and as the tide had gone out we were able to get close for great views and photos – we were so happy we were dancing on the beach which drew a few strange looks from the locals!
For more photos and video you can check out the VARC Fb page and we will post the full trip report on our birding website (www.worldbirdtraveler.com) with information on the itinerary, accommodations, and bird lists etc., and as always, will be happy to help and provide more information and advice for anyone thinking of planning a trip to either country.
Happy spring migration birding and banding!
Derek<image003.png>
Derek J. Matthews
Chairman, Director Communication
NABC Certified Trainer
Vancouver Avian Research Centre
Registered Canadian Charity #82118 2656 RR0001 4115, East Braemar
Road, North Vancouver, BC, V7K 3C9
T: (604) 218-1191
E: Derek@...
W: www.birdvancouver.com