Trucker saddened by tragic fate of bird he cared for

Swan goose captured by photojournalist Kim Jin-su / Courtesy of Kim Jin-su

Photo journalist releases bird watching book, delves into bond between humans and birds

By Kang Hyun-kyung

One day, a truck driver based in Danyang County, North Chungcheong Province, saw a redstart flying in and out of a small hole created in a broken bumper of a truck left in the playground of an abandoned elementary school.

Out of curiosity, he peered into the hole and discovered a nest the bird had built. And there were eight eggs inside!

Feeling the urge to protect them, the truck driver quit his day job and looked after the redstart, so the bird could incubate the eggs and leave the nest after the chicks grew up.

The trucker, who identified himself as “Mr. Bear,” made a sign for the bird family, “A House of Redstart Family,” and put another watch-out sign underneath it. It read: “Do Not Open the Door of the Truck. A Redstart Is Incubating Eggs. Be Quiet!”

The redstart successfully incubated eight eggs, thanks to the trucker's month-long protection.

But the family of birds did not live happily ever after. All the birds disappeared one day. They were all eaten by a yellow snake while the truck driver was running an errand.

Kim Jin-su, author of “Birds That Flew into My Camera”

Photo journalist Kim Jin-su learned about the “bird keeper” story during his photo project back in April, 2004.

“The truck driver was saddened, but didn't blame the snake. He said that's the way of the world in the animal kingdom,” Kim Jin-su, a photojournalist who recently released a book titled, “Birds that Flew into My Camera” said during a recent Korea Times interview. “It's a tragic story. But I learned a lot from him.”

Before meeting him, Kim said he didn't understand people like the truck driver who chose to stay jobless to take care of birds. “But while listening to him about the bird family, I realized he had a wonderful heart for animals,” he said.

In this 2004 photo, a trucker who identifies himself as “Mr. Bear” holds an empty nest after the redstart family was killed and eaten by a snake. Courtesy of Kim Jin-su

Published by Hani Books for children, “Birds that Flew into My Camera” is a bird watching book telling the story of Kim's two-decade-long professional journey watching birds in Korea, Mongolia and Siberia, Russia and capturing them in his photos.

It also tells the tale of a bond between birds and humans by featuring people like the trucker who interact with and take care of birds as if they were family.

To capture the best moments, he said he set up a camouflage hide near the nest and sat up until late at night. He said bird watching in a camouflage hide is a tormenting experience particularly when weather conditions become extreme. But he said, it's that painful experience that also makes him feel rewarded when he successfully captures the shots that he likes.

Kim, photo editor at the Hankyoreh newspaper, has taken photos of birds since the late 1990s. He joined the daily in 1994.

Some of the photos were published in the newspaper and went viral.

He said he decided to publish the book to share behind-the-scenes stories he was unable to share with his readers.

Asked about the most inspiring project, he mentioned his first one, which was about a kestrel that built a nest on a balcony of an apartment in Ilsan City, Gyegonggi Province in the late 1990s. Hearing about the bird from his readers, he went to the apartment and spent nearly 40 days photographing the bird.

He was intrigued by the rare interaction between the kestrel and an elderly former farming couple who learned that the bird had built a nest in their balcony.

“At that time, I was a total stranger to bird watching, because I knew nothing about birds. My knowledge of birds was almost zero, so I had no idea of how to approach the bird and what I should prioritize when photographing it,” Kim said. “While taking several different photos, I gradually came to learn about birds, their behavior and developed an interest in them.”

He said bird watching is very different from other photo projects he usually does for his newspaper. “During my career, I took photos of rallies and protestors. But bird watching was a whole new world and I had to learn a lot,” he said.

An elderly couple watches a kestrel sitting in a flowerpot on the balcony of their apartment in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province. Courtesy of Kim Jin-su