Winter tour Kyushu 2019

The warm, spacy camper "Auckland" is so comfortable, I wondered why we don't do this every month, or even full time. But then... our yacht "Alishan" would suffer from neglect. And our bank account too. But not Nori the cat, who came along. He cried the first few hours and then found a warm sun-lit place on his blanket in front of a window and settled down. He loved the rest of the 4 days. Even the last km in "Esther" our Estima he was quiet!
We left early, but just missed out on dawn at lake Ezuko in Kumamoto.

Little Egret, コサギ hunting for his breakfast

 

To the local's delight one Black-faced Spoonbill, クロツラヘラサギ came to spend the winter at Ezuko

Visited Kumamoto's famous Suizenji park

 

...and drove south to Koshiki Beach, where we arrived early, not to miss the sunset at low tide.

Cruising through Amakusa included a few surprise stops and saw the Mulder House in Mizumiura, the Octopus in Amakusashi and a huge orange... 

... many quiet, rustic fishing villages with pretty adorned houses next to collapsed ruins in various stages of decay. 

There were statues of gods, deities and a pretty girl dancing at the Ushibuka Haya, all together a colorful bunch.

Via Izumi ( see previous post) we ended up in Hitoyoshi before heading back to our normal daily life

We had more luck with the Mandarin Ducks, オシドリ in the Kuma river then the Crested Kingfisher...

... guess why...?     Northern Goshhawk, オオタカ

I very much enjoyed our winter holiday in Kyushu again. Many thanks to 377 for letting us use the Auckland and many thanks to Jaap making my birthday unforgettable, for driving safely and supporting me all the way while waiting and looking for birds. And to Nori for acting like a well-behaved traveling cat.

(Jaap's present!)