New Records of Calidris alpina arcticola from Korea Confirmed by Resightings of Color-marked Birds

In the Republic of Korea, two subspecies of the Dunlin Calidris alpina have been recognized: the abundant and common C. a. sakhalina and the vagrant C. a. pacifica. As a result of color-marked bird resightings on the west coast of Korea from 2007 to 2009, three C. a. arcticola, which bred in Barrow, northern Alaska, were observed in the Saemangeum reclamation project area. Given skipping migration strategies and high site fidelity of many shorebird species in Korea, this result strongly suggests, at least during their southward autumn migration, that the tidal wetlands of the Saemangeum area play an important role as a key staging site for the newly recorded C. a. arcticola in Korea. Further studies on the current status of the three Dunlin subspecies in Korea and the implementation of effective mitigation measures at Saemangeum are strongly recommended.