This was THE surprise bird of the trip, and especially for our tour leader, Nial Moores. Nial was always very composed in the field, EXCEPT for the instant he found this bird! Very few, if any, of the members of our group understood the significance of this sighting, with Nial having only seen this bird once before in Korea. The entire world population of this endangered bird is estimated at between 250 and 1000, and there are no dependable locations to see this bird, period.
This bird was seen on the 1st island we visited, Socheong.