Dr. Scott misidentifies birds

I visited a nature preserve with a real camera and took pictures of anything that could fly.

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Background

I've come to the uncomfortable realization that I am old.

I can no longer stay up past 1:00 am, pretty much hate all the current music and pop culture trends in both Korea and America, and would rather be set on fire than play computer games. Worst of all, I joined Dr. Russia on one of his weekly bird watching trips and actually enjoyed it. To embrace my new position in life (patiently waiting for death), I borrowed one of Dr. Russia's old cameras and joined him again on a bird watching trip. In total, we spent around six hours walking around the two kilometer Eulsukdo Island Nature estuary.

In short, Eulsukdo Island is a small marsh at the mouth of the Nakdonggang River in Busan, South Korea. It is famous for being the winter home for migratory birds and fish including great egrets and great herons. Even though the numbers have steadily declined due to pollution and rising temperatures, there are birds to see all year long.

To reach Eulsukdo, we took the Busan subway (No. 1, Orange line) from Busan Station to Hadan Station, which is about a 10 minute walk to the connecting bridge. Before leaving Hadan, Dr. Russia insisted we visit his favorite Starbucks because they properly prepare double shot espresso. I have no real opinion of Korea's coffee market.

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The flowering garden

To start our journey, Dr. Russia took me to a public park in the front of the Island called the "flowering garden". During the spring, there are around 20 different annual flowering plants that will make for great pictures in 2021. For this visit, we went to a man-made pond and took pictures of the resident Chinese striped-neck turtle.

The rest of the park had several interesting wild plants and fruit-bearing trees worth photographing. As a chemist, I was particularly interested in the aristocholia plant (ie. Dutchman's pipe), which produces the carcinogenic DNA-damaging agent.aristocholic acid. As an amatuer photographer, I was interested in the typhoon lilies (flowers that bloom after the rainy season) and the wild fig trees. Check out more of my flower pictures in the "Nature" tab on the main website.

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The birds

The majority of our trip was spent walking between observatories in the marshland taking hundreds of pictures of different birds. The larger birds like great herons and great egrets seemed to be comfortable with visitors, and continued with their hunting and sun bathing uninhibited. The smaller birds were far more skittish, and my camera didn't have a good enough zoom to capture all of them. Some of my favorite photos are listed below, but check out the main website for more photos and information.

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Conclusion

As the sun set and we made our way to our favorite tuna restaurant, I made the decision to purchase a real camera of my own. Asia is home to hundreds of unique birds, insects, and plants that will be easier to capture with a real zoom and autofocus. Please check the new "Nature" tab for updates on these type of weekend trips.

Follow ag4abroad on Instagram, Steller, and Flickr for updates.

사랑해!