Amateur bird watcher

I hestitate to name names, and, if anyone from Birds Korea wants to correct me, please feel free to do so. I've got my "A FIELD GUIDE TO THE BIRDS OF KOREA" book and I have to say that trying to identify birds in the wild by comparing them to pictures of birds in a book is really, really hard. All of these birds were spotted this morning on my second Sunday stroll along Cheonggyecheon.

I'm thinking Spot-billed Duck. I'm not sure about the two lighter colored ducks but I'm assuming that they are juveniles and may not have their final colors. The reddish colored duck I'm also not sure about. All of the ducks have the same black spot on the tip of their bills, so it may be that they are all Spot-billed Ducks in various seasonal and age-related colors.

Here I'm thinking Great Egret, especially because of the one with the black bill.


































How anyone can tell which gull is which is beyond me. I think perhaps Black-tailed Gull because it has a red-tipped bill, but it could be a Mew Gull.















This beauty is a Grey Heron, I think. The body plumage seems right, but I never noticed a crest.
















Of course, Cheonggyecheon is not only about birds. This handsome little dog was modelling the latest in black plastic crap bags. I think his master was selling (perhaps giving away) the bags to passing dog owners so that they could clean up after their pets. What a nice idea.