Khasan Preserve

Points To Remember:

1. The extreme southern part of the Russian Far East, the border between Russia, Northern Korea and China.
2. Korean-type beautiful landscape with wet meadows, lakes, and hills with specific dwarf forest of sparse oaks.
3. The sea-shore with sandy flats and cliffs, marvelous 'Pigeon Cliff'.
4. In spring-summer, many particular birds that breed in the Russian Far East only in this area.
5. In Autumn, intensive spring and fall migration of the northern Siberian birds, in particular shore-birds.
6. Good open panoramas for taking pictures.

General Information

The Khasan area offers a particular landscape area at the very southern border of Prymorsky Krai.

It is a mixture of 'normal' Ussurii and Korean floristic and faunistic biodiversity. Birds, plants and particular wet and hilly habitats are most interesting for general eco-tourist; numerous species of the north Siberian bird migrants make this area irreplaceable for advanced birdwatcher. In total, floristic diversity includes about 550 vascular plants, in particular rare species of lilies, irises and peonies. In autumn, it is possible to observe here most of North Siberian and Far East bird breeders, as well as some North American visitors among shore-birds. In spring-summer only here a naturalist very likely to see such rare and sporadic to declining species of birds as Baer's Pochard (Aythya baeri), Ruddy Crake (Porzana fusca), Far-eastern Curlew (Numenius madagaskariensis), Tiger Shrike (Lanius tigrinus), Chinese Gray Shrike (Lanius sphenocercus) and Japanees Reed Bunting (Emberiza yessoensis). Chinese Penduline Tit (Remiz consobrynus) was registered on breeding here during past years. Many water birds, that is difficult to see in other areas among reeds and river thickets, can be easily observed in open Khasan landscape with meadows and lakes. Among them: Spotbilled Duck (Anas poecilorhyncha) and Falcated Teal (Anas falcata), Great White Egret (Egretta alba) and Intermediate Egret (Egretta intermedia), Schrenk's Little Bittern (Ixobrychus eurhythmus) and Green-backed Heron (Butorides striatus). Yellow-legged Button Quile (Turnix tanki) is also quite common in the area. Chinese Pond Heron (Ardeola bacchus) can be met on the lakes and Chinese Egret (Egretta eulophotes) on the sea-shore medows. Steller's Sea-Eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) is a common visitor by winter time. Rare eastern species of the cranes can be met on the autumn migration. The Khasan hills are one of the few places in a world, where Jankowski's Bunting (Emberiza jankowskii) was a common breeder up to the 1970th.

Technical Information

The Khasan area is most southern part of the Primorsky Administrative Region, located south from the Posiet Bay on the border corner with China and Northern Korea. Its eastern part, joining to the sea, has now a preservation status of 'regional zakaznik'. Most of Khasan territory is covered by wet lowlands, that includes a system of quite a large shallow lakes fringed by floating vegetation and surrounded by wet fields with meadows and marshes. Three largest lakes are Doritseni, Tal'mi and Sokpau. The lowlands are separated by hills with oak groves and bushes. That allows to observe the lakes and marshes from elevated see-points. The area can be approached both from the sea side, from the general territory of the Dalnevostochny Morskoy Reserve, and by the surface transport, from the north, on the way from Vladivostok and Ussuriysk to the south, passing through 'Kedrovaya Pad' Nature Reserve.

Climate

A marine climate, with damp winter, rainy and cloudy spring, up to the end of June, drier July and August, and quite warm autumn. In May - early June the days with clouds and mist, accompanying with week but continuous shower are typical, alternating with some sunny days. Start of vegetation is late - later than in more northern inner territories of the southern Primorie.

Geography And Vegetation

The Khasan area is a mixture of 'normal' Ussurii and Korean type landscape with a mosaic of lowland wet and dry hilly habitats. The lowlands include large fields of wet to flooded grass-sedge meadows, passing to marshes with pits of reeds around and between the lakes. The ridges of not high hills, up to 300 meters, separate the system of lakes with swamps and meadows. The hills are covered with peculiar dwarf groves of sparse oaks, alternating at the foot part with dry grassy and bushy patches and with stony-grassy fields with cliffs near the tops. Particular landscape is a sea-side, where flat sandy shore is fringed with cliffs and bushy vegetation.

Avian Diversity

The Khasan lakes are famous for various egrets and herons, most common of which are Great White Egret (Egretta alba), Gray Heron (Ardea cinerea) and Intermediate Egret (Egretta intermedia). In these lakes the other rare for Russia ardeids, in particular Chinese Pond Heron (Ardeola bacchus), where registered. Vagrant Chinese Egret (Egretta eulophotes), Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) and Cattle Eggret (Bubulcus ibis) can be recorded. These lakes are one of the main sites in Russia where Baer's Pochard (Aythya baeri) is a not rare breeder. The other ducks include Spotbilled Duck (Anas poecilorhyncha), Falcated Teal (Anas falcata) and many typical for the Eurasia dabbling duck species. Schrenk's Little Bittern (Ixobrychus eurhythmus) is quite common breeder in reed and high grass patches near the lakes and Green-backed Heron (Butorides striatus) like to feed here. Pied Harrier (Circus melanoleucos) is a most common raptor.

The wet meadow - marsh - to dry foothill landscape complex is characterized by typical assemblage of birds, living in dense settlements. Most common of them are buntings - Japanese Reed Bunting (Emberiza yessoensis), Gray-headed Bunting (Emberiza fucata), Yellow-breasted bunting (Emberiza aureola) and rare eastern subspecies of Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus). Black-browed Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus bistrigiceps) is abundant, and Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella certiola) and easten subspecies of Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) are common. Wet medows with high grass are typical place for Band-bellied Crake (Porzana paykulli) and dry medows with bush - for Yellow-legged Button Quile (Turnix tanki). Both species can be easily registered by the ear, during their song all over the night, in May-June. Another rare and secret eastern species, Ruddy Crake (Porzana fusca), was registered on breeding in the Khasan meadows several times.

The hills with dwarf oak groves are very even habitat with four dominating species: Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis), Black-tailed Hawfinch (Eophona migratoria - most beautiful singer!), Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus) and Oriental Tit (Parus minor). Another interesting birds very likely to be met in some oak groves and on bushy slopes are Tiger Shrike (Lanius tigrinus), Manchurian Bush Warbler (Horeites difone), Pygmy Woodpecker (Dendrokopos kizuki) and Tricolor Flycatcher (Ficedula zanthopygia). Chinese Gray Shrike (Lanius sphenocercus) breeds on separates trees among the meadows.

The cliffs along the sea-shore is a typical breeding habitat of eastern Blue Rockthrush (Monticola solitarius); Manchurian Bush Warbler also breeds here on the bushy slopes. In wet near -the -sea grasses can be met Island Grasshopper (Locustella pleskei) that normally breeds on the islands of Great Peter Bay. In autumn, beginning from September, the sea-shore is a place of intensive migration of many northern shore-birds, most abundant of which are Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis) and Dunlin (Calidris alpina, 3 eastern subspecies). Quite common is Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris), Knot (Calidris canutus), Long-toed Stint (Calidris subminuta), Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea), 3 species of snipes and Asian Tattler (Heteroscelus brevipes). Rare but regular migrants include Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus), Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata), Broad-billed Sandpiper (Limicola falcinellus), Little Curlew (Numenius minutus) and Spotted Greenshank (Tringa guttifer); many migrating ducks can be seen from the shore.

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