Dear All,

I was invited to go and stay at Naibor Camp in the NE of the Mara 
area. This has to be the most luxurious tented camp in Kenya. In 
spite of having been resident in the Mara for some nine years, this 
was a corner that I had never visited, but I did not expect it to be 
too different from the Musiara Thornscrub area well to the west.

My hosts Albie and Freda Venter were so incredibly accommodating, 
and Albie is an extremely keen and very capable birder. We spent two 
full days investigating the area to a limit of 15 kilometres from 
the camp, with the intention of compiling a birdlist. In the two 
days we recorded a staggering 205 species, but I will come to that 
later.

To reach Naibor Camp, the turn off from the main tarmac Narok-
Keekerok road is about twenty kilometres from the junction. It is 
then another fifteen kilometres overland where you will need to be 
guided, or will be extremely lucky to just stumble upon it.

My visit to the area had one personal objective, and that was to try 
and locate the Karamoja Apalis that Phil Shaw had discovered back in 
August, and this was the first opportunity, although several 
proposed visits had had to be postponed.

On the afternoon of 4th January, I had seen the extensive stands of 
drepanolobium all along the road, from about 15 kilometres south of 
the "Junction," and made mental notes to return and search the area, 
as this must have been where he had found it. I turned off onto the 
Naibor Camp road, marked with a sign "SNC" which stands for Shompole-
Naibor Camp.

After five kilometres I was driving through a fairly extensive stand 
of drepanolobium, and saw two silvery-grey birds in flight, chasing 
each other, so immediately stopped and walked into the patch where I 
had seen them disappear. I saw a movement on a lower branch of a low 
plant, and with heart racing raised my binoculars to find that it 
was a.... Desert Cisticola, however the birds I had seen were 
silvery-grey. Just a few trees away there was another movement and 
two Karamoja Apalis climbed to pose on the very top. I watched these 
for a little while, then returned (somewhat euphoric) to the vehicle 
to get the telescope, tripod and camera. Having done this I returned 
to where I had left them, and fortunately they were still there and 
proceded to take at least fifty photographs, to ensure that the 
sighting was well documented! One of the better ones is available on 
this site.

The next morning I returned with Albie, and relocated them in the 
same place, and again on the afternoon of the 7th with a second pair 
being found at the far eastern end of this patch.

I agree with Itai who was fortunate to find the species very 
recently, during his time in Tanzania, that the bird does not behave 
like one would expect of a typical Apalis, and all movements are 
suggestive of an affinity, (as unlikely as it seems) with Red-
fronted Warbler. The birds constantly sway their tails from left to 
right like that species. The strong direct flight and pair-bonding 
duetting, reminded me a little of another unlikely species, Red-
winged Grey Warbler, whilst the song is a slurry whistle unlike any 
other species of Apalis.

It is just amazing that this species not yet on the Kenyan list, has 
been so elusive, because it is so striking and effusive, but then 
never before in Kenya, has the thought of walking for miles through 
whistling thorn ever been considered ornithologically a must!!!!

Having an appreciation for what habitat the species required, 
diligent searching could find a number of birds along the Keekerok 
Road, but in the Kedong Valley there must be around 100 square 
kilometres of suitable habitat, and that may well reward some 
dedicated searching.

Other more noteworthy finds were;

The place is the overlap zone of Yellow and Red-necked Spurfowls, 
although Yellow-necked seems the more numerous.

A pair of Black-faced Sandgrouse at a water hole, represent a far 
western record for SW Kenya.

The Grey-headed Woodpecker, is now a split from Grey Woodpecker, the 
race was always known from the Mara otherwise occurring only in 
Ethiopia. It differs mainly from Grey in having no barring on the 
flight feathers, which are uniform bright olive-green.

Athi Short-toed Larks were common on the highland plateau areas, and 
also in the drepanolobium woodland. The western population was 
ignored by Zimmerman and Turner and not picked up in Stevenson and 
Fanshawe where distributions show it to be solely east of the Rift.

Rufous-chested Swallows were nesting in the side of an aardvark 
excavated termitarium, which seems to be a requirement for this 
species nesting site in the Mara.

Another species from East of the Rift, clearly has a resident 
population in this area, we saw three Pangani Longlclaws in the 
drepanolobium along the Naibor road, one in drepanolobium along the 
Keekerok road, and a pair in dry grassland near the Naibor Camp. 
This is a very interesting population west of the Rift, and ten 
years ago I found a pair along the Keekerok road and speculated that 
they might be resident rather than vagrant.

The Buffy Pipit in the list was the second race of Plain-backed 
Pipit (goodsoni) that occurred along side Plain-backed Pipit 
(zenkeri) in the western Mara. It's time to recognise it as an 
entity pending DNA work. A few were seen, but the normal Plain-
backed Pipit was far more numerous.

A pair of Bush Pipits came in to Owlet tormenting near Naibor Camp. 
I have seen them about five times in the past in Siana Valley at 
this same time of year.

Only one Icterine Warbler at an owlet mobbing, the species is a 
winter resident in the Siana Springs area, so it's presence here was 
not a surprise.

Taita Fiscal was fairly common throughout the drepanolobium area, 
again this population west of the Rift was not picked up in 
Zimmermann and Turner or Stevenson and Fanshawe, who treat the 
species in southern Kenya as purely eastern.

Karamoja Apalis has already been treated above.

Buff-bellied Penduline Tit (sylviella) previously treated as a race 
of African P-T (caroli) was a numerous bird in open acacia patches 
throughout the area. Far more numerous than usually encountered in 
the Siana Valley.

Southern Grosbeak Canary were present on all of the acacia hills 
around Naibor, that had commiphora stands. In the past I have 
regularly seen this species along the Keekerok Road, at the scrubby 
hill to the east 22kms from the Junction. This western population 
was ignored by Zimmerman and Turner and not picked up in Stevenson 
and Fanshaw where distributions show it to be solely east of the 
Rift.

There were the odd Little Weavers in patches of acacia xanthophloea 
around Naibor. Whilst usually associated with areas such as Baringo, 
the species has long been known around Siana Springs, extending the 
range right down to Olduvai, but in very small numbers.

So the uniqueness of this area is testified not just by Karamoja 
Apalis, which would be enough, but by disjunct populations of four 
species of eastern birds.

I have appended a list of the species recorded in intermittent two 
days of birding around Naibor Camp, to give some idea of what a rich 
area this is, and how fortunate that we now have an extremely keen 
birder resident in this intersting area.

AFRICAN OSTRICH/ HAMERKOP/ ABDIM'S STORK/ WHITE STORK/ MARABOU 
STORK/ EGYPTIAN GOOSE/ BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE/ BLACK KITE/ LAPPET-
FACED VULTURE/ WHITE-HEADED VULTURE/ HOODED VULTURE/ RUPPELL'S 
GRIFFON VULTURE/ AFRICAN WHITE-BACKED VULTURE/ BLACK-CHESTED SNAKE-
EAGLE/ BROWN SNAKE-EAGLE/ BATELEUR/ DARK CHANTING-GOSHAWK/ GABAR 
GOSHAWK/ PALLID HARRIER/ MONTAGU'S HARRIER/ AUGUR BUZZARD/ TAWNY 
EAGLE/ STEPPE EAGLE/ MARTIAL EAGLE/ LONG-CRESTED EAGLE/ COMMON 
KESTREL/ RED-NECKED SPURFOWL/ YELLOW-NECKED SPURFOWL/ HILDEBRANDT'S 
FRANCOLIN/ CRESTED FRANCOLIN/ COQUI FRANCOLIN/ HELMETED GUINEAFOWL/ 
AFRICAN BLACK CRAKE/ WHITE-BELLIED BUSTARD/ SPOTTED THICK-KNEE/ 
TEMMINCK'S COURSER/ HEUGLIN'S COURSER/ CROWNED LAPWING/ THREE-BANDED 
PLOVER/ CASPIAN PLOVER/ GREEN SANDPIPER/ WOOD SANDPIPER/ COMMON 
SNIPE/ LITTLE STINT/ YELLOW-THROATED SANDGROUSE/ BLACK-FACED 
SANDGROUSE/ RED-EYED DOVE/ RING-NECKED DOVE/ LAUGHING DOVE/ EMERALD-
SPOTTED WOOD-DOVE/ BROWN PARROT/ BARE-FACED GO-AWAY BIRD/ RED-
CHESTED CUCKOO/ KLAAS' CUCKOO/ DIDERIC CUCKOO/ WHITE-BROWED COUCAL/ 
VERREAUX'S EAGLE-OWL/ PEARL-SPOTTED OWLET/ MOTTLED SWIFT/ AFRICAN 
BLACK SWIFT/ HORUS SWIFT/ WHITE-RUMPED SWIFT/ SPECKLED MOUSEBIRD/ 
BLUE-NAPED MOUSEBIRD/ AFRICAN PYGMY KINGFISHER/ GREY-HEADED 
KINGFISHER/ LITTLE BEE-EATER/ LILAC-BREASTED ROLLER/ AFRICAN HOOPOE/ 
GREEN WOOD-HOOPOE/ ABYSSINIAN SCIMITARBILL/ AFRICAN SCIMITARBILL/ 
AFRICAN GREY HORNBILL/ VON DER DECKEN'S HORNBILL/ RED-FRONTED 
TINKERBIRD/ RED-FRONTED BARBET/ USAMBIRO BARBET/ BLACK-THROATED 
HONEYGUIDE/ LESSER HONEYGUIDE/ NUBIAN WOODPECKER/ CARDINAL 
WOODPECKER/ BEARDED WOODPECKER/ GREY-HEADED WOODPECKER/ RUFOUS-NAPED 
LARK/ FAWN-COLOURED LARK/ RED-CAPPED LARK/ ATHI SHORT-TOED LARK/ 
FISCHER'S SPARROWLARK/ BANDED MARTIN/ BARN SWALLOW/ WIRE-TAILED 
SWALLOW/ LESSER STRIPED SWALLOW/ RUFOUS-CHESTED SWALLOW/ RED-RUMPED 
SWALLOW/ WHITE-HEADED SAW-WING/ YELLOW-THROATED LONGCLAW/ PANGANI 
LONGCLAW/ ROSY-BREASTED LONGCLAW/ GRASSLAND PIPIT/ BUFFY PIPIT/ 
PLAIN-BACKED PIPIT/ BUSH PIPIT/ AFRICAN BLACK CUCKOO-SHRIKE/ COMMON 
BULBUL/ NORTHERN WHITE-CROWNED SHRIKE/ BRUBRU/ BLACK-BACKED 
PUFFBACK/ BROWN-HEADED TCHAGRA/ TROPICAL BOUBOU/ SLATE-COLOURED 
BOUBOU/ SULPHUR-BREASTED BUSH-SHRIKE/ GREY-HEADED BUSH-SHRIKE/ RED-
BACKED SHRIKE/ RED-TAILED SHRIKE/ TAITA FISCAL/ COMMON FISCAL/ WHITE-
BROWED ROBIN-CHAT/ SPOTTED MOURNING-THRUSH/ WHITE-BROWED SCRUB-
ROBIN/ NORTHERN WHEATEAR/ PIED WHEATEAR/ CAPPED WHEATEAR/ ISABELLINE 
WHEATEAR/ EURASIAN ROCK-THRUSH/ ARROW-MARKED BABBLER/ OLIVACEOUS 
WARBLER/ ICTERINE WARBLER/ RED-FACED CISTICOLA/ RATTLING CISTICOLA/ 
ZITTING CISTICOLA/ DESERT CISTICOLA/ PECTORAL-PATCH CISTICOLA/ TAWNY-
FLANKED PRINIA/ YELLOW-BREASTED APALIS/ KARAMOJA APALIS/ BUFF-
BELLIED WARBLER/ PALE WREN-WARBLER/ GREY-BACKED CAMAROPTERA/ YELLOW-
BELLIED EREMOMELA/ RED-FACED CROMBEC/ GREY-CAPPED WARBLER/ WILLOW 
WARBLER/ BANDED PARISOMA/ SILVERBIRD/ GREY FLYCATCHER/ SPOTTED 
FLYCATCHER/ CHIN-SPOT BATIS/ BROWN-THROATED WATTLE-EYE/ AFRICAN 
PARADISE-FLYCATCHER/ BUFF-BELLIED PENDULINE-TIT/ WHITE-BREASTED TIT/ 
RED-THROATED TIT/ AMETHYST SUNBIRD/ SCARLET-CHESTED SUNBIRD/ 
VARIABLE SUNBIRD/ MARIQUA SUNBIRD/ AFRICAN YELLOW WHITE-EYE/ 
CINNAMON-BREASTED ROCK BUNTING/ GOLDEN-BREASTED BUNTING/ KENYA 
YELLOW-RUMPED SEEDEATER/ YELLOW-FRONTED CANARY/ WHITE-BELLIED 
CANARY/ SOUTHERN GROSBEAK CANARY/ BRIMSTONE CANARY/ GREEN-WINGED 
PYTILIA/ RED-BILLED FIREFINCH/ RED-CHEEKED CORDON-BLEU/ PURPLE 
GRENADIER/ CRIMSON-RUMPED WAXBILL/ COMMON WAXBILL/ BLACK-FACED 
WAXBILL/ GREY-HEADED SILVERBILL/ GREY-HEADED SOCIAL- WEAVER/ RUFOUS 
SPARROW/ SWAHILI SPARROW/ CHESTNUT SPARROW/ YELLOW-SPOTTED PETRONIA/ 
SPECKLED-FRONTED WEAVER/ LITTLE WEAVER/ SPECTACLED WEAVER/ LESSER 
MASKED WEAVER/ VITELLINE MASKED WEAVER/ VILLAGE WEAVER/ RED-HEADED 
WEAVER/ GREATER BLUE-EARED STARLING/ RUPPELL'S STARLING/ VIOLET-
BACKED STARLING/ HILDEBRANDT'S STARLING/ SUPERB STARLING/ YELLOW-
BILLED OXPECKER/ RED-BILLED OXPECKER/ AFRICAN BLACK-HEADED ORIOLE/ 
AFRICAN DRONGO.

In addition in an hours night drive looking for and finding no 
nightjars, we found two Serval, a Bat-eared Fox with three kittens, 
an Aardwolf, three Small-spotted Genets, although one looked like a 
Large-spotted Genet and the two could be coexisting here, Spring-
Hare plus the usual White-tailed Mongoose, Black-backed jackals etc. 
The area is wonderful for the more interesting lesser mammalian 
fauna.

This really has been a great start to 2005, and I hope that you all 
have similar fortune.

Best birding

Brian