The 10th Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is set to get underway in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province from October 28th to November 4th to shed some light on the importance of wetlands around the world.
In Korea the Upo wetland is the country's largest. It is located in Changnyeong County near the Nakdong River which passes through the nation's second biggest city Busan and its third largest, Daegu. It's home to numerous rare and endangered species including the spoonbill a bird which waddles in shallow waters.
Because of the need to feed itself for many hours spoonbills poke around the water with its flat almost spatula-like bills in search of food preferably small fish or insects.
They do often descend on Korea this time of year but this year they arrived a month early and have come in record numbers.
Spoonbills are considered endangered species marked as national treasure 205 and the fact that six of them have been spotted in Upo wetland as opposed to one or two in the past is certainly positive news. Experts believe the recent drought has made food scarce elsewhere with Upo becoming an attractive place for a range of species in search of food.
Their visit will only last for the winter because once spring starts they fly off to the wetlands of Central Asia.
For the convention the birds couldn't have come at a better time as it provides reason for maintaining and protecting wetlands as a safe haven for all types of species.
Shin Haejoo, Arirang News.
OCT 26, 2008
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Friday, SEP 03, 2010, (KST) 
