Field Survey of Major Migratory Bird Reserves in Spring Conducted

The Biodiversity Institute under the State Academy of Sciences conducted a field survey and research of distribution of migratory birds in spring at the major migratory bird reserves along the coasts of the East and West seas of Korea from March to May.

They are the Mundok Migratory Bird Sanctuary, an important wetland (Ramsar Site), the Kumya Migratory Bird Reserve, an East Asian-Australasian Flyway Network Site, and the Sindo, Kwangpho and Tongjongho migratory bird reserves, the migratory bird reserves in the country.

During the survey, researchers observed over 125 000 waterbirds of about 80 species and, among them, registered over 4 000 waterbirds of over 10 globally-endangered species, including spoonbill, stork, far-eastern curlew, swan geese, common pochard, Chinese egret, red-crowned crane, hooded crane, Grus vipio and saunder’s gull.

They also observed bean goose, mallard, spot-billed duck, common coot, bar-tailed godwit, far-eastern curlew, Pluvialis squatarola, dunlin and Terek sandpiper accounting for over one percent of their population in the world or the region.

They estimate that the Mundok and Sindo migratory bird sanctuaries on the coast of the West Sea of Korea play a particularly important role as the places for stopover of snipes and the Kumya, Kwangpho and Tongjongho migratory bird sanctuaries on the coast of the East Sea of Korea as the places for stopover of wild goose and ducks.