Seoul Birding II : Dongjak National Cemetery
When: October 2018 Weather at 330pm Hot, 20C
Nikon P900
Following from another bloggers report, this was actually the main birding location that I wanted to check out after my work was done at 3pm. But as is usual, I found that the birds I saw earlier in the morning at Bongeunsa (see previous post) were more active and interesting compared to mid afternoon. One boon of the cemetery is that it is also right outside Dongjak subway station which if you use the red express line of the gold number 9 line gets you here pretty quickly….
At the entrance to the Dongjak National Cemetery, is this impressive sculpture.
I headed past the sculpture and found a little road that hugs the side of the whole cemetery heading in an anticlockwise direction…the autumnal colours of fall were beginning to show
and the noisy calls of the brown eared bulbul drew my attention
Brown eared bulbul
More brilliantly coloured leaves appeared
the neatly laid out military graves
fringed by beautiful autumnal foliage
Azure winged magpie was better seen here than in the morning
the city of Seoul could be seen from the hill at the back of the cemetery
the common magpie was everywhere and we can see its brilliant deep blue here..
common magpie
A beautiful common buzzard soared overhead
and from my elevated position on the hill, I had a good view of numerous azure winged magpies flying across the valley
another brown eared bulbul came up close
and in a spectacular flash of colour, this Eurasian Jay landed not too far away
and just before I left, I heard the unmistakeable sound of a woodpecker….
a nice way to end the afternoon’s ramble…the great spotted woodpecker, which strangely, I had just seen a few weeks earlier in Vienna…(see earlier post)
the red leaves of fall almost outdid the birds here…
some wonderfully coloured leaves
So with 24 hours in Seoul, and a meeting that lasted from 10am to 3pm, I managed two bird outings; this was also a pleasant expedition but it’s a much bigger place and involves a lot more walking than Bongeunsa. Recommended.
Thanks to KC Lim for help in identifying birds here and in Bongeunsa
The Natural Traveller 