Light-vented Bulbul (!!) - November 22, 2012

Light-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis

Light-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis

  To say it's been a good birding week is the understatement of the year! I headed out on one of my luxurious 3-hour lunch breaks in search of a Long-tailed Shrike that visiting birder Stephen Judd recently spotted out on the east coast. I didn't manage to catch up with the shrike, but the area had a great 'birdy' feel to it. I decided to check out a scrubby agricultural area on the way out and I'm sure glad I did. I quickly spotted two gleurp-gleurping Light-vented Bulbuls!
  This is a bird that was only first sighted in Korea over the past decade, but appears to be busy colonizing the Hermit Kingdom, with breeding suspected on Socheong-do in the Yellow Sea. It's not really the sort of bird you'd expect to find in the southeast of mainland Korea. Well I guess Geoje IS an island, but it's still a pretty darn rare bird round these parts, so I must have done something to please the birding gods!