A black-tailed gull, a resident bird, was found in Tokushima Prefecture of Japan, 550km far away from its birthplace, Hongdo Island in Gyeongnam Province.
A great reed warbler, migratory bird in Southeast Asia, ringed by Japan was discovered in Heuksando Island.
Korea National Park Service (KNPS, Chairman: Park Bo-hwan) said that a black tailed-gull born in Hongdo Island was found in Tokushima Prefecture of Japan, 550km away from Hongdo Island. Last June, KNPS ringed black tailed-gulls in Hongdo Island with the aim of tracking their migratory routes and conducting a study on climate change.
KNPS ringed the newborn baby black-tailed gull (No.206, 090-05686), and then released it. Four months later, on 9th October, it was rescued by a Japanese fisherman in Tokushima Prefecture. At that time, it got tangled in fishing gut with the right wing broken. The bird was sent to Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, and its researcher requested Migratory Birds Center of KNPS to confirm the information of the ring at the end of last October.
The Black-tailed gull is one of the seabirds living in Far East Asia including Korea, China and Japan. It represents the resident birds that breed in groups in uninhabited island far off the land.
Young black-tailed birds leave their nest two to three months after the birth, and then start breeding around three years old. The black-tailed gull found in Japan is the first case showing how far young black-tailed gulls hatched in Korea can travel.
In the meantime, a great reed warbler migrating from Japan to Southeast Asia was also found in Heuksando Island.
In August 2015, KNPS found the great reed warbler wearing a ring of Nigata Prefecture Office of Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, and then requested the Office to confirm the information in last September. The Office replied that the bird was ringed by Nigata Prefecture Office in July 2012.
The bird is a grown-up, at least three years old or over, and the second great reed warbler, which was discovered after KNPS found a great read warbler that flew over from Japan to Heuksando Island in April 2012.
After identifying the migratory routes of great read warblers for two times, KNPS found out that some individuals of great read warblers pass by the southwestern coasts of Korea in the process of traveling from Japan to Southeast Asia after breeding in summer.
“It is of great significance to confirm distribution regions of young black-tailed gulls as resident bird, and migratory routes of great read warblers as migratory bird, for ecological study on bird migration,” said Kwon Yong Soo, Chief of Migratory Birds Center, KNPS. “We will also analyze a correlation between migratory routes and climate change,” he added.
Migratory Birds Center of KNPS has been ringed birds every year at Heuksando Island in Sinan, Hakampo in Taean and Hongdo Island in Gyeongnam Province for the purpose of researches.
Over the past ten years, the Center ringed 60,954 birds of 244 species and has analyzed changes in the breeding season of black-tailed gulls each year for climate change research.
KNPS said that local residents’ attention and report are very important to trace the ringed birds efficiently with a view to identify migratory routes of birds.
For instance, the migratory route of swallow between Japan and Korea was confirmed by a report of local resident in Hongdo Island in April 2010. Migratory route of the young black-tailed gull was also identified thanks to a report of local resident in Tokushima Prefecture.