> Dear All,
> 
> On 28th August, I went up to Nakuru to see if there
> was any hope that the Slender-billed Gull seen by
> Steven Easley would still be there after he had
> found it 25 days before.
> 
> I waited at the mouth of the Njoro River, the river
> was very full, and was attracting many gulls and
> terns where it spilt out into the lake. Searching
> amongst the numerous Grey-headed Gulls, there were
> two adult Black-headed, and it was not long to wait
> before the adult Slender-bill was doing its
> ablutions with them. This individual is a nice
> adult, complete with pinkish hue, and was duly
> digitised. Having attained the objective very early
> in the proceedings, this allowed a leisurely full
> day around the lake.
> 
> In spite of being early in the season, there were
> many thousands of Ruffs around the lake, also
> considerable numbers of Little Stints but barely
> half-a-dozen Curlew Sandpipers, there must have been
> a over a thousand Marsh Sandpipers scattered around,
> but probably no more than fifteen Greenshank, three
> Wood, one Green and six Common Sandpipers. There was
> one Black-tailed Godwit in the reedy corner below
> Baboon Cliffs, and the only three Ringed Plover,
> were all in the south-eastern corner. White-winged
> Black Terns amounted to what seemed like tens of
> thousands, there were vast numbers all over the
> lake, but there must have been well over a thousand
> Whiskered which is a high number. Five Avocets only,
> and they in the south-east corner, but large numbers
> of Black-winged Stilts all around the shore. Below
> Baboon Cliffs there were two Western Reef Herons,
> they looked just like the ones that were in the same
> place last January. One dark Dimorphic Egret near
> Hippo Picnic Site on the eastern shore. There was an
> early adult male Marsh Harrier there as well. Two
> flocks amounted to well over one-hundred Cape
> Wigeon, and apart from these there were birds all
> around the lake. In July I struggled to find Greater
> Flamingo, finally locating two! Now they are in
> unusual numbers especially the marsh pools below
> Baboon Cliffs and in the east shore marshes. Some
> groups amount to several hundred birds. Only one
> raft of fifteen Black-necked Grebes seen all day,
> and as yet no migrant duck.
> 
> One sub-adult Saddle-billed Stork along the eastern
> side, where Great Egrets were in large numbers in
> the marsh, but the concentration of Yellow-billed
> Egrets is unusual for the species. Glossy Ibis in
> good numbers and a few strange creamy birds amongst
> them.
> 
> Probably over a thousand Barn Swallows around the
> shore, and Angola Swallow near Muyas Causeway,
> something I seem to see every time now, whereas I am
> sure I did not see them before. The same goes for
> Blue-spotted Wood Dove, which was along the western
> road, and again I see it on every visit nowadays,
> but cannot ever remember the bird in the past. Bush
> birds were very prominent and noisy, being active
> all through the morning. African and Black Cuckoos
> were calling, the place is having a spring, with
> much nesting activity, following the recent
> persistent rains. 
> 
> The strangest bird of the day, I cannot yet
> positively identify. There has been a large die-off
> of Lesser Flamingos, and this has attracted unusual
> numbers of Pied Crows to the foreshore along the
> northern end. Amongst these crows I found a strange
> black corvid. The bird was slightly heavier than the
> Pied Crows that fed with it, the bill was very
> heavy, but not razor-narrow like in Fan-tailed and
> White-necked Ravens. The outer tail feathers were
> only slightly shorter than the wing projection.
> However the bird was all black, apart from a tracing
> of white around the shoulders, and a gorget of very
> irregular white spots, from the bend of the wing
> across the belly. The upperparts were entirely
> black, and very glossy. My first thought was a
> hybrid Pied Crow/Fan-tailed Raven, but if the Pied
> Crow provided the weakest genes, as testified by the
> lack of white on the back, little white on the
> belly, then why would the tail be the length of a
> Pied Crow, and the short tail not be present if
> Fan-tailed Raven were the dominant influence. I then
> thought of hybrid Pied Crow/Brown-necked Raven, now
> more correctly called Somali Crow. But there was no
> brownish cast to the head, and a Somali Crow would
> be strange enough this far south, let alone it being
> a hybrid with Pied Crow. On two occasions the bird
> called loudly, and it was a perfect Pied Crow,
> however to my ears I cannot tell any difference
> between Pied Crow and Somali Crow anyway. The call
> no way suggested Fan-tailed or White-necked Ravens.
> I took many photographs of the bird with its Pied
> Crow friends, but they do not provide any further
> clues. The hackle patterns might assist a crow fundi
> though. In Ethiopia I have seen something similar
> with hybrid Pied Crow and Somali Crow, the two forms
> are extremely close, the Somali Crow is just like an
> all black Pied Crow! Somali Crow also have white
> bases to the black feathering where this would be
> white in a Pied Crow, and when the feathers are
> ruffled, the white bases show.
> 
> Had this bird not have had these white patches, I
> would have been sure that the bird was a rather lost
> Somali Crow. Anyone interested is welcome to see the
> pictures.
> 
> 
> On the afternoon of the 29th August, I went down to
> Olorgesailie with Richard and Anne Bishop, we had
> booked in at the Bandas. There are new bandas,
> replacing those burnt down at the beginning of the
> year. Comfortable mattresses, pillows and a mosquito
> net are provided, and they are very comfortable. We
> drove out to Emerit on the road out of Ol Tepesi,
> the aim was to go and find Freckled Nightjars, then
> spotlight along the road back to Olorgesailie. On
> the evening drive we found Bare-eyed Thrush, Tiny
> Cisticola, Southern Grosbeak Canary, and before the
> sun had set we arrived at the base of the lava
> cliff. Just after the sun had set, Richard played
> tape of Freckled Nightjar, and was answered almost
> immediately. I had always thought Freckled to be
> fairly unresponsive until this night. A bird circled
> us and flew back to sing from the cliff. We played
> again, and it came in again and circled us.
> Eventually it flew down to the sandy area by the
> creek, where it was joined by a second bird. We
> drove down and sat in the car, with the birds
> sitting on the sand not too far away. We wanted to
> try for some photographs, but it was proving
> difficult, as by now it was quite dark, although a
> full moon rising. We tried playing tape a little
> further along the road, and a bird flew in and
> disappeared although it was calling quite loudly.
> Richard said he thought it had landed on the roof of
> the car, I climbed out through the window, glancing
> at the tree above me, where there was no sign of the
> bird, then looked on the roof, and the bird was two
> feet away, but naturally was a shocked as I was and
> flew off. We played tape again, and the bird flew
> straight in and just sat. calling five feet from the
> car, where it remained challenging the invisible
> interloper.
> 
> We left the birds and spotlighted along the road, by
> now the moon was high and it was like daylight, and
> the only birds we found were two Spotted Thick-knees
> and four Slender-tailed Nightjars. 
> 
> Back at the bandas, the moonlight was encouraging
> many birds to give voice, Buff-crested Bustards were
> particularly noisy, Heuglin's Coursers were giving
> their descending calls and the to date undocumented,
> disjunct local population of Donaldson-Smith's
> Nightjar (which are resident along the Magadi Road)
> were also making their presence known. After a late
> dinner we decided to try and locate the closest one.
> Setting off just with mag-lites and no recording
> equipment, nor photographic equipment, we headed in
> the direction of the bird. After several periods of
> bird calling  then periods of silence, we finally
> located it sitting under a bush. We went closer, and
> it sat there seemingly oblivious to us, we went
> closer and closer, until we were at the closest
> limit of the focus of the binoculars and nothing to
> immortalise the experience! It sat there in all it's
> beautiful spottiness, and we walked away still
> leaving it in place, and when we were at a little
> distance it started singing again (and continued
> virtually all night!). On the way back we found a
> Nyika Gecko next to the track, which was new for all
> of us.
> 
> On Sunday morning there was much activity at the
> bandas, the bird-bath was brimming with birds, a
> good variety with Crimson-rumped Waxbills being the
> most numerous species. All of the usual estrildids
> were present, with exception of whydahs, with no
> species present. The only unusual sighting here were
> two Levaillant's Cuckoos. 
> 
> Stopping off at a lugga on the escarpment on the
> return, we found four White Helmetshrikes including
> one immature. We were going to climb the hill at
> Kisamese to look for butterflies, and not
> disappointed with two Hutchinson's Silver-Spots that
> have to be seen to believe what stunning beauties
> they are- unlike the dowdy illustration in Larsen.
> However, we had parked in Ribs Village (just before
> Kisamese), and on return found a pair of Bush Pipits
> living in the garden. They were very tame, and took
> no notice of the passing human traffic, or the
> dogs.... and finally posed in a tree to be
> immortally digitised. Anyone popping into Ribs for a
> beverage or nyama choma, should keep an eye out for
> these trusting birds. Never a dull day on the Magadi
> Road.
> 
> 
> Best to all
> 
> Brian

=====
***************************************
Itai Shanni                    
itaisha1@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/itaisha1
           
Tel 00-255-748903003 (TZ)
or 00-255-7458877829 (TZ)
Tel 00-254-722889099 (KE)
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p.o. Box 47419           
Nairobi                  
Kenya