ML494985971

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

**rare and a total surprise; while I was fruitlessly and frustratedly chasing yet another Emberiza chip that I never found, I noticed a black bird flopping in a tree. I ignored it for a minute or so, presuming it to be a Large-billed Crow, even though it seemed too small and they are *never* in the woods like that. At some point I realized the bunting wasn’t going to show and my brain kicked into gear and said “I should see what the black bird was”. I started looking and immediately spotted a Black Wood-Pigeon sitting still about 50 ft up in a pine. I spent the next 15 minutes getting looks from different angles, always obscured. Towards the end some Brown-eared Bulbuls found it and mobbed it, causing it to jump up a few feet to a different perch, but it was still sitting there when I finally left. It had a bit of violet iridescence on the neck and a single greenish feather and some more greenish feathers on the forward part of the upperwing. The irides were dark brownish. The belly feathers struck me as juvenal and I saw no molt limits, though the outer primaries were maybe more brownish (?). In the end I am unsure on age. One of very few mainland records for the Korean Peninsula, although they are regular breeders at Ulleungdo and a few other islands SE of here. It seemed conceivable to get a dispersing/migrant bird on this island-like patch, but I never thought it would actually happen. Note that this was a huge migration day for Oriental Turtle-Doves, with my biggest count so far.

Technical information

Camera

Microphone

Accessories

Original file size

48.73 MB