Birding at the Land of the Morning Calm: Ilwol Reservoir (May 2024)
- chiwitchronicles
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
By prior arrangement, we had specific times that we had to be on duty at the Coron booth. I planned to use my day off to bird, at least in the morning but my problem was, all the known birding sites were located outside of Seoul and I was not sure how to get there. I contacted a known bird tour company but their rates were way beyond what I could afford. A couple of contacts made through the Philippine birding community also led to the same bird tour company. By a stroke of luck, one of my birder guests in Coron on April 2024, was a British couple who worked in conservation and had links to Korea. Through them, I was able to connect to a young birder, a college student and the President of their school's birding club whose rates were more reasonable. My young guide, Yerin, brought me to the Ilwol Reservoir, which was located a little outside of Seoul. Since we were both commuting, she gave me directions on which train to take, where to go down, where to change trains, etc. After about an hour, I met Yerin and we took a 10 minute taxi ride to the reservoir.
The main target for the day was the breeding Great-crested Grebe which had the local birding community excited. And within three minutes of entering the reservoir grounds, it was there in front of us, swimming lazily, giving us plenty of good looks, I was holding a cup of coffee and a sandwich from McDo which I had to put down so I could get my camera.
After getting plenty of shots of the Grebe, we walked on but not before I quickly finished my meal so that my hands would be more free. While walking along the path, a small bird flew across and perched on a shrub beside the bath. I was able to snap a quick photo of what I thought was another lifer. It turned out to be the Vinous-throated Parrotbill, which I saw at Seoul Forest Park a few days earlier.
It was a probably breeding season for waterbirds because we encountered a Eurasian Coot with chicks further up the path. Not a lifer for me but my first time to be really close to this bird and first time to see its chicks.
We also saw a male and female Great-crested Grebe building a nest
We also saw other water birds in the pond and a couple of common urban birds on the trees that lined the pond.
While we were walking around the reservoir, cormorants kept flying around and no matter how far, I would try and take a photo and Yerin was laughing at me (somewhat), because apparently these birds were pretty common in Korea. I explained to her that we hardly see any cormorant in the Philippines. At that moment, I considered this bird to be a lifer only to find out that I saw this bird briefly in Japan in 2018. But its still a rare bird in the Philippines.
The reservoir is basically a large pond with a path around it. There were a number of people walking around jogging and exercising. At one area, there were exercise equipments for people to use. By time, we were almost three fourths of the way around the pond.
A few meters from the Coot, we chanced upon a complete Grebe family
We left the reservoir area because Yerin wanted to show me something. Along the way, we came upon a Christian church (not sure if Catholic) and I could not resist taking a photo.
We were walking near a river and Yerin pointed something to me.
And this was what Yerin wanted to show me....
It was already past noon by now. We took a cab back to the train station and I was at my hotel before 2pm. A quick shower and change, another train ride and I was at the Coron booth a little after 3pm.
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