Breeding Ground of Black-tailed Gulls on Nando Island, Taean

The black-tailed gull is a resident bird found along the whole of Korea's coastline and on its islands, and it also breeds in Japan, the southern Russian Far East, southern Sakhalin, the southern Kuril Islands and along the coast of China. Males and females look alike, with a body length of about 43 cm. They nest where grassland, small trees and shrubs grow sparsely, building their nests from dried grass. Their diet consists mainly of fish, amphibians, molluscs and insects. Because they gather where shoals of fish are found, they have long helped fishermen locate fishing grounds and have been well regarded by them since ancient times. The black-tailed gull breeding ground on Nando Island lies on an uninhabited island in Taean-gun, South Chungcheong Province, also known as 'Alseom' (Egg Island) or 'Galmaegiseom' (Gull Island). The edges of the island are formed of sheer rock cliffs. At the summit grow grasses such as coastal stonecrop, daylily, mugwort, wormwood, curly dock and wheatgrass, as well as shrubs such as elderberry, camellia and silverberry, but most of the island consists of bare rock. A colony of around 15,000 black-tailed gulls breeds there in May and June. They breed mainly on the rock cliffs but also lay eggs around the summit, usually two or three at a time. Away from the island's steep slopes, however, the gulls suffer serious harm from people stealing their eggs. Nando Island is a representative breeding ground on the west coast for colonies of black-tailed gulls and is of great academic value, and it has accordingly been designated and protected as a natural monument. Nando Island, Taean is currently designated a restricted-access area to protect the black-tailed gull breeding ground, and anyone wishing to enter for management or academic purposes must first obtain permission from the Administrator of the Korea Heritage Service.

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Where it is

Region

Taean, Chungnam

Designation

Natural Monument · 천연기념물