Dear All,

Rather old news now, but before I had my last Kenya safari, I went 
down Magadi Road on 19th June with Patrick and Karen Plum. From 
Corner Baridi as far as Ol Tepesi we recorded 143 species, which is 
not too bad without migrants or waterbirds. Highlights were 4 
Buttonquail, a Black-and-White Cuckoo, a Eurasian Roller which 
evidently has no intention of returning at this late stage, two pairs 
of Little Rock Thrush at Corner Baridi, a Bare-eyed Thrush as high as 
the first Icross Road just below Kisamese, 10 White Helmet-shrikes on 
the Camel Road, only my second record for the area, a couple of Fire-
fronted Bishop near Ol Tepesi, 3 Steel-blue Whydahs on the Camel 
Road, and some ten Paradise generally.

More up to date than this…..  on 7th August I went with Steve and 
Mark Collins for a one night camping near the Migori River ten 
kilometres from Lolgorien. On the way we had three Denham's Bustards 
feeding on a freshly harvested wheat field near Molot on the Narok-
Bomet Road.  Steve has a seed project in the area, and was there only 
a few days before, riding on a tractor whilst it was harvesting one 
of the plots. They were flushing what he called Barn Owls out of the 
wheat, whilst they were cutting. The driver said that the birds were 
there every year when they harvested, and they have run over nests. 
It is not that unlikely that Grass Owls losing their rank grass 
habitat would find wheat quite acceptable with an ample diet of 
rodents available… and this would be well worth following up. In the 
area where we camped, there were quite a number of western species, 
including a family of Mountain Illadopsis, which were very noisy and 
I did get a fairly poor picture of one. The area had many Grey-winged 
Robin Chats, a few Red-capped and a pair of Snowy-headed. Yellow-
billed Barbets were scattered, both Schalow's and Ross's Turacos were 
present, many Joyful and Little Greenbuls, Luhder's Bush-Shrikes plus 
other montane birds shared with the east like White-headed Wood-
Hoopoes, Grey Cuckooshrike, Waller's Starling etc. Incidentally in 
Britton it mentions Mountain Illadopsis as occurring in the 
Aberdares, this is surely an error as there are none east of the 
Rift. This distribution was not picked up in Zimmermann and Turner, 
so was evidently discounted.

On top of the Oloololo Escarpment overlooking the Mara were a pair of 
Rock-loving Cisticolas, which were quite extravert compared to their 
skulking a few weeks earlier when I was on tour.

The past week I have been surveying Tsetse treated plots in Angurai 
(Teso District) and Busia. It was not really that interesting, as the 
region is so heavily cultivated. However two birds that I associate 
with the boulder/scrub habitat near Malaba, Whistling Cisticola and 
Black-bellied Firefinch were common. Other species were just holding 
on, but it was quite good for estrildids Common, Black-rumped, Fawn-
bellied and Black-faced  Waxbill (the last seemed out of place), 
African, Black-bellied and Red-billed Firefinches, Purple Grenadier, 
Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu, Black-and-White and Bronze Mannikins. The 
ornithological highlight was finding a pair of Red-winged Warblers on 
territory (singing) on a small rocky hill… and I was able to get the 
GPS position which was 36N E0647329 N0079030.  In the boulders I 
flushed an eagle owl, and it turned out to be a Greyish with all 
black eyes, and I managed some very nice photos for the record, a few 
Red-headed Lovebirds were in the same valley. For the herp people I 
also photographed Chevron-throated Dwarf Gecko Lygodactylus 
gutturalis, which I think is the first for Kenya.

The immediate environs of Busia town are not remotely interesting, 
but there is a large swamp that is in very good condition. As with 
the Sio River, it consists of very tall reeds of the same species, 
but no papyrus. There were no White-winged Warblers singing although 
I am sure they will be there, but Greater Swamp Warblers were 
present. The real surprise however was a singing Papyrus Canary along 
the edge, which looked much at home. I don't know any records of the 
species away from papyrus, but it is possible that the similar 
vegetation around the swamp is the attraction.

I received an email from Steven Easley who has just finished leading 
a tour in the country… his highlights were an adult Slender-billed 
Gull at Nakuru, female Standard-winged Nightjar roosting with Slender-
tails at Baringo, and 15 Athi Short-toed Larks near Fig Tree Camp in 
the Mara.

Best to all
Brian