Dear all, 

Nairobi NP is proving itself, again, as an amazing birding 
destination…

The heavy rains we had last night must have attracted few migrants 
down. The first was a Black Stork and not far after Common 
Whitethroat and a Blackcap were spotted in the forest. After a while 
a Common Buzzard many Eurasian Bee-eaters, Eurasian Golden Orioles, 
House Martins and few Sand Martins were seen at Impala view point. A 
Eurasian Hoopoe was flying below into the plains (not very common in 
the park).
Later we went back to the forest, trying to get some more recordings 
of `Nairobi Pipits' for the current work that is being done on this 
proposed new species. The rains that we had the last week must have 
initiated singing we thought, and found it to be true.

When coming down from the forest towards Kingfisher picnic site 2 
groups of Swifts (around 20-25 birds) were seen, both looked as 
Pallid Swifts with the brownish appearance, medium size and pale edge 
secondaries. At the junction, a Lizard Buzzard was sitting on a small 
Acacia (very strange to see it here in NBi) and later a few raptors 
were coming down. They were mainly Steppe Eagles but also 3 Lesser 
Spotted Eagles and one that looked like Greater Spotted Eagle (but 
this was too far away for us to be sure about it). During the day 2 
Booted Eagles were seen (one dark and one rufous morph) and also all 
the four species of Harriers in EA (including one African Marsh 
Harrier) and both Red-tailed and Red-backed Shrikes. 
A pair of Parasitic Weavers was also a nice addition for the day.

An hour later 6(!!) Cheetahs were seen resting by the side of the 
road and just above them an adult Verreaux's Eagle was flying north 
(this has been really scarce lately in the park, and especially at 
this side). While Brian was watching the Eagle, I scanned the plains 
(that were recently burnt) and to my great astonishment a Eurasian 
Thick-knee was standing 30 m' away from us, a great finding indeed! 
After taking almost 30 digiscops, we moved on towards Olomanyi dam 
and later to Hyena dam. By the bridge (where the tarmac ends) a 
Eurasian Cuckoo was another good addition for the day and later by 
the burning site, another probably migrant, a Black & White Cuckoo. 
An African Darter was also seen flying east.

We then went to meet the Bishop's (Ann & Richard) and try and re-find 
the Thick-knee. We managed to relocate it at the same spot and had 
another look on the Cheetahs. 1 Km later a pair of Lions was sleeping 
on the road (looked like a mating pair, which is a great thing with 
the problem we have now with the NBi lions). We went to Olomanyi dam 
on our way out, but a big Aquila perched on a tree made us stop 
again. A sub-adult Imperial Eagle! We digiscoped this bird also and 
after few seconds, the bird took off and landed very close on the 
ground just to take a piece of carrion and go back to the tree. This 
way we could see some more very important features of Imperial Eagle 
(tail pattern, wings-`window' pattern, chest pattern…)

what a great day in NNP.
All the best to all and happy birding,
Brian Finch and Itai Shanni