Our great southern migration

  The hospitality of the SNU group was fabulous. They met us all at the airport and carried our luggage.They played Kpop songs in the van rides.  They fed us insanely good food. The gold on this sushi is for good luck: Everywhere we went, they had welcome signs We had two young DVM interpreters that shared their skills and information all day every day! They even had a strong connection with Minnesota dating back to the 1950s! (No, I wasn't at MN then, thanks kids; however, I did share PhD advisors with some of their faculty).  But above all, they kept us company and showed us Seoul. Because international flights leave in the evening (to keep customers quiet and asleep), we had most of the last day open. Instead of sending us on our way, they offered to show us the old town (our choice of what to see). As you wander through the spaces, there are diamonds on the ground to show where to stand to get the best shots.  We wandered into small shops and learned more history...

    We seem to do better with purples than with pink. We were just headed back to the car in one park when this colorful tweet flew by. It flew off again just as quick and it took some fiddling with lighting to see the pink. Rather than rose robin, this seems to be a pink robin! Always good to have a challenge, right?  This one is a purple swamp hen. These flamboyant birds are often found in the parks and nature preserves. Love the attitude in this one. The pacific koel is a new one for us. It was on the list for one of our sites (south of Sydney) and we hunted and hunted. We heard it right at the beginning and then not again. So of course, we find it in the tree opposite the Potato Point house. This picture was when it was up on the point but same bird. It is named for its call, so you can definitely know when it is around. Most of my pictures of the bird in this bush were just of its head peeking up, typically with a berry in its mouth.  Scott is headed for swim le...