2nd November 2002

Dear all,

I have just finished a twelve day bird safari, and there were a few 
interesting records in that period. Palaearctic raptors were in small 
numbers, though the quality was more than compensatory. (ALL RECORDS 
OCTOBER) 
In Nakuru  on 26th we had a young Great Spotted Eagle with ninth 
primary missing for future ID of the individual, and an adult, I have 
included a photo of the perched adult. But only one Lesser Spotted 
the whole period, surely they cannot all have passed so early. 

On the 28th a Eurasian Sparrowhawk passed over with 20 Common 
Buzzards just east of Narok. On the 30th up the Sabaringo Valley a 
female/imm Western Red-footed Falcon passed down the valley, it was 
videoed and I hope to have a still from this very soon. A kilometre 
away on the Oloololo Escarpment, a female Eurasian Sparrowhawk was 
putting on a fine display chasing passerines in and around the 
bushes. In the first week of November last year, I had four Eurasian 
Sparrowhawks pass along this escarpment in an hour, it seems to be 
their flyway at this time of year (rather than through Tsavo as the 
Ngulia records suggested). 
The resident pair of Ovampo Sparrowhawks in the valley put on a 
superb display, and again the following day. Honey Buzzards were 
encountered three times, two in Mara and one near Isiolo, and two 
Ospreys are back at Naivasha. At Nakuru there is a Tawny Eagle with a 
very striking Imperial Eagle head pattern, but with a pale not dark 
breast, watch out for this one!!!

Other interesting raptor observations were a Lizard Buzzard on a pole 
near the Isiolo/Timau junction, the first I have ever recorded from 
this area, and at such altitude, and Wahlberg's Eagle on the nest in 
the Sabaringo Valley, whereas when I lived in the Mara it was a June 
event, contrary to literature. 

Apart from raptors Lake Naivasha Club had a single Great Crested 
Grebe, a Sanderling and the first Temminck's Stint on 27th, Limuru 
Pond is still in superb condition with plenty of White-backed and 
Maccoa Ducks, and looks very inviting for a rarity to turn up, 
a Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo was in full voice at Kieni on 21st, two 
Mottled Spinetails around Mountain Lodge on 22nd from this very 
isolated population that appears resident here, 

both the long-staying Luhder's Bush-Shrike and White-chinned Prinias 
at Kichwa Tembo in the Mara appear to have disappeared, perhaps the 
clear felling of an important substantial block of riverine forest 
and scrub to plant cabbages has had an adverse affect, Conservation 
Corporation indeed!!!!! 

A Lesser Grey Shrike going south a bit too far east, and a black-
eared Pied Wheatear both near Lake Elementeita on 27th were the only 
really interesting migrant passerine of the period. It has recently 
been proposed that there is in fact no black-eared form of Pied 
Wheatear, they are a myth like black-phase Little Egrets, and they 
are a hybrid of Black-eared and Pied Wheatears in the small range of 
overlap. 
Black-and-White Flycatcher was noisy on 22nd at Meru Forest, but the 
illegal charcoal burning continues with police blocks close at hand 
having no adverse affect.

Finally on the 30th, the most exciting find of the period, also from 
Sabaringo Valley in the Mara. Whilst driving slowly up the road, I 
saw a small cisticola feeding on the ground on recently burnt ground, 
and it was an immediate recognition of Black-backed Cisticola female. 
Without going into too much description here, the bird was so 
distinctive that Zitting, Pectoral-patch and Desert never came to 
mind. The back was nearly black, flanks and rump orange, face very 
pale, but the contrast of the pale panel formed by the pale edges of 
the primaries appeared as an obvious pale block against the blackness 
of the upperparts. The bird was videoed, and I should have stills 
from this video very soon and make them available here. We left the 
bird feeding on the slope, had only gone 100 metres more, and I 
noticed another movement on the burnt ground amongst some charred 
stalks, and raising my binoculars found I was looking at an adult 
male Black-backed Cisticola in breeding plumage, with it's unmarked 
deep rufous-brown crown. Sadly this individual was far less obliging, 
and with nine people looking in the open with no cover, we succeded 
in inexplicably losing the bird before it could be digitally placed 
in the historical annals!

I lived at Kichwa Tembo for nine years, during that period I must 
have been up the Sabaringo Valley on many hundreds of occassions and 
never have I seen anything resembling Black-backed Cisticolas in the 
area (or Kenya) before. I can only presume that they are wanderers, 
perhaps something to do with the recently discovered population in 
Tanzania only a stones throw from the adjacent Kenyan border along 
the same Oloololo Escarpment.

Best birding to all for now, and to a great November passage,

Brian