June 30

Today was a day of triumph in identification.  I figured out some of the plants that were really bugging me.  Soon I'm going to get started with information about the plants (descriptions etc.) for use in a field guide.  Cool!

Cryptomeria japonica cones

View of Jeodong

Arctium lappa

Malva neglecta

Delosperma cooperi - finally figured this one out

More Impatiens noli-tangere because I just love this plant

Didn't know what this one was and it was everywhere...finally found some budding inflorescence (above) and determined it was Aralia cordata

Some blooms of Pueraria thunbergiana (Pea family)

Could not figure out what this one was the other day, so I spent a really long time going through all the plant pages I made forever ago.  This one is Symphytum officinale, also known as comfrey

This one was a mystery too, and it turned out to be Lythrum anceps...misleading square stem made me think it was in the mint family

This plant was another that was everywhere, and it has a square stem...Phryma leptostachya (not in the mint family either)

June 28

Yesterday I took the bus over to Cheonbu and hiked the old road trekking course back to Jeodong and eventually to Dodong (6.4 miles total).  Despite the somewhat brutal trek up to the trailhead, I have to say this was one of my favorite hikes, and I think anyone who comes to Ulleungdo should do this hike. Here's why:

A sign explainging the ecological zones of Jeju and Ulleungdo - subtropical, temperate, alpine

Forest succession

Some rare plants (Arisaema takesimense, Lilium hansonii, Trillium tschonoskii)

Some birds - Russet Sparrow, Great Tit, Brown-eared Bulbill

Some flowers found in the woods

Finally some ferns - Rumohra standishii, Adiantum pedantum, Cyrtomium falcatum

From what I've seen of this island so far, people don't really treat it with a lot of respect and there's garbage all over the woods.  I really don't think people who come here understand the concept of "Leave no trace."  They probably also do not know much about ecology, either.  So I'm really glad this trail is here to teach people about ecology at least.  I just wish it was a more popular trail.

Convolvulus arvensis (I just typed this in and it autocorrected it to ConocoPhllips, haha)

I could not place this plant, although I think maybe it's in the Ericaceae family (or related)

Orobanche coerulescens (again)

Something in the mint family, it has a square stem. Couldn't find it anywhere

Commelina communis 

Praying mantis

Moth

Polystichum braunii (I think, it's hard to tell with ferns sometimes)

More Pyrola renifolia

Asplenium scolopendrium (aka Scollies)

Polypodium vulgare (licorice fern)

Better picture of White-backed Woodpecker

Pinus parviflora

Not really sure what species of fern this is but I like the sori

Really huge caterpillar, like the girth of my index finger but longer

Hypericum erectum

Varied Tit

Galinsoga ciliata

June 27

Today I took the bus over to Taeha and wandered through some pine forest for a little while. Little bit different community composition than some of the other parts of the island.  Maybe soon I'll take the monorail up to the Juniper forest.

cool cave

the whole island is literally just mountains and human establishments on the only flat ground. I can't really do a whole lot of surveying so my my studies will have to be mostly observation-based.

I do not

egret

this day 

at all

(ps - those are Intermediate Egrets)

Black-crowned Night Heron (juvenile) - so awesome, I didn't even know these existed on this island

Grey Heron - also really cool, also didn't know these were here

None of my sources are telling me what this is and it makes me really mad because it's an orchid and it's really cool and I want to know what it is

The closest I got was Cephalanthera sp.

Cyrtomium lonchitoides (as told by the sori)

Callicarpa japonica because the flowers are just really pretty ok

White Wagtails are really cool

Grey Wagtails are pretty cool too

Went back to Bongnae Falls to collect some Impatiens noli-tangere leaves for Bongseonhwa