Dear All,

I had the pleasure of a five day excursion to the coast, in the 
company of Richard and Ann Bishop (who made all of the arrangements), 
Simon Valle a very keen volunteer at Arocha, and John Hornbuckle 
visiting from UK.

We all met up at Mombasa International Airport and made straight for 
Shimoni. After turning onto the Shimoni Road, we were surprised to 
see a dark Eurasian Honey Buzzard over the scrubland. We stayed at 
the KWS Eden Camp, which is very good value, with comfortable beds, 
new mosquito nets, and running water. Very  large and very reddish 
Great Plated Lizards had a few territories, and the attractive Yellow-
headed Dwarf-Geckos shared the same trees with the commoner White-
crowned Dwarf-Geckos. Apart from Syke's Monkeys and noisy Galagos at 
night, the local Angola Colobus shared Camp Eden.

We ate at the nearby Betty's Camp. Here Forbe's-Watsons Swifts were 
putting on a fine display feeding with the nesting Little Swifts. We 
had a half-a-dozen  that afternoon, but the next afternoon some sixty 
were beating the same path. Forbe's-Waton's Swift has very 
distinctive rasping calls, quite unlike any other East African 
Swifts, and once heard and retained, they are easy to pick up as they 
fly overhead, and they are quite a noisy species. The best recordings 
that I have made, actually came from south of Dar-es Salaam some ten 
years ago, although I believe that the species is still not on the 
Tanzanian list. I suspect that the species winters south down to the 
Mozambique coast. Interestingly my records show the species over 
Watamu-Sokoke-Kilifi in Nov-Dec, and apparent re-appearance late 
March-early April (when I recorded them in Tanzania), this suggests 
that the species is a double passage migrant, and not a non-breeding 
visitor as stated in the field-guides. It would be interesting to 
hear of any positive identifications in January and February.

Brown-headed Parrots were in small numbers in Camp Eden, and along 
the Shimoni Road, there were a nice pair of Collared Palm Thrushes.

The main reason for being in Shimoni was to do a pelagic, but 
unfortunately conditions were not ideal, and in the six hours we only 
saw a Brown Noddy. The persistent showers made viewing diificult and 
perhaps the seas were a little too calm.  Palm-nut Vultures were an 
obvious feature of the Shimoni area, more common than I have seen 
anywhere else in Kenya.

We left Shimoni for a morning in Shimba Hills National Park. Green-
headed Orioles were noisy at both Shimba Hills Lodge and Makadara 
Picnic Site, but no other birds of note were seen. Leaving here in 
the afternoon we departed for Watamu to stay at Arocha.

Next morning (6th) we visited Sokoke, finding a good collection of 
the residents, but there was a marked passage of Eurasian Rollers 
moving over the forest, and Red-backed Shrikes inside the forest!  
African Golden Orioles were already back for their winter residence, 
and noisy in Gedde Forest Station.  In the afternoon we visited 
Gongoni with a very obiging Malindi Pipit, the first of the Lesser 
Grey Shrikes of the season, some superb White-winged Black Terns,  a 
couple of Saunder's and a Caspian…. very disappointing for waders, 
but the tide was low at the time. Returning we called in at Sabaki 
River Mouth, here there is now a comfortable room for visiting 
birders down near the estuary, that would be well worth staying in. 
If anyone is interested contact……karabu45@yahoo.com  and 
www.sabakirivercompoundcottage.com  and mobile: external 254-722-
861072 and within  Kenya 0722-861072.

The tide was coming in fast, there was nothing of particular interest 
amongst them, apart from sixty Avocets, and the surprise of 1000 
Madagascar Pratincoles already! Other birds of interest  included an 
Osprey, a migrant Peregrine, a single Red-throated Pipit, a Rufous 
Bush Chat  hiding in the dune scrub, three Eurasian Rock-Thrushes, a 
couple of Willow Warblers a half-a-dozen Red-backed Shrikes, and a 
Spotted Flycatcher. There were a few lutea and flava  Yellow Wagtails 
along the rivers edge.

In the scrub near the mangroves, a Bare-eyed Thrush was in full song.

The morning of the 7th, we revisited the Sokoke Forest, there were 
numerous Asian Lesser Cuckoos, including several of the strange red-
headed and red-rumped forms, and I took several photos of these 
strange beasts. A Thick-billed Cuckoo was already very responsive in 
spite of the lack of rain, until the late morning when the skies 
opened up on us. A few Eurasian, and a single Black-and-White Cuckoo 
were also amongst the migrants feasting on the caterpillars. 

The next morning we caught the 45 minute flight back from Malindi to 
Nairobi.