Hello friends,

I've just returned from a 4 day trip to Kyushu Japan. Kyushu is the southern most of the four main islands of Japan. My birding partner Tom Marko and I visited Miyazaki, Kagoshima and Kumamoto Prefectures and tallied some 85+ species on the trip. The jury is still out on a Pipit species I photographed, it might be 86 species. Of those, I had about 10 lifers (need to check notes from some earlier trips to confirm the total) and Tom had about 20 lifers, so all told it was quite a trip.

Some of the highlight birds were as follows:
Siberian Crane, 1 adult and one Juv at Arasaki
Swan Goose, 1 at Arasaki
Russet Sparrows, several flocks during the trip
Bamboo Partridge (A lifer for both of us)
Silky Starlings, not lifers but nice birds
White-Backed Woodpecker, Mi-Ike, Miyazaki
Baikal Teals, 2 males, 1 female, Mi-Ike
Grey Bunting, Mi-Ike

I think my 2009 list has doubled in size, it will take me a few days to catch up on my list!

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperative with mostly dark overcast skies and at least half the trip with a steady drizzle. The best day was the few hours we had at Mi-Ike before we left to the airport. It was quite cold with temps below freezing overnight but clear blue skies and a very photogenic Durian Redstart that posed for me. Aside from that and some decent photos of gulls hovering in the breeze, the trip wasn't what I was hoping for photography wise but still a great birding trip.

Cheers!

Dan