Dear Birders,

Over the last weekend, on 14th of Jan i went for a
business trip to Malaba (Kenya - Ugandan border), and
like any other keen bird watcher, i looked-up for any
available opportunity to explore this unexplored area.
I did not have enough time, but driving from Malaba to
Busia along the border gave me a chance to look around
on the way.

Our drive from Malaba to Busia did not yield many
species, but just a few Black-Bellied Firefinches and
Bar-breasted Firefinches besides common species. The
whole region of Busia is normally not very interesting
for birding, as most of areas are heavily cultivated
and with lots of human activities.

However, if you happen to spend a night at Busia,
there is a nice hotel called Blue York Hotel and from
here you can be able to set out early in the morning
and do birding in the nearby areas. I have always
wanted to explore Busia grasslands extensively for the
possibilities of the many swamp and grassland species
that are hard to see in the reeds. On Sunday morning
16th Jan I departed very early heading towards Kisumu
from Busia and stopped at the Sio River Bridge about
15kms from Busia.

The Sio River flows along the complex Busia
grasslands, including Malanga, Sikoma, Matayo and
Mungatsi grasslands forming a stretch of swampy
grasslands all the way to Lake Victoria. At the Sio
Bridge there are two beautiful ponds with water Lilies
and here we saw lots of Black Crakes, Allen�s
Gallinules, Swamp Flycatchers and a colony of Yellow
Backed Weavers. 

We watched a very interesting behavior with the
Greater Swamp Warblers, where they were inspecting
every nest of the Yellow Backed Weavers, perhaps maybe
looking for insects outside the nest. Even though they
were also trying to inspect inside the nests, they did
not seem to be interested in eggs or chicks, any one
have ever witnessed this kind of behaviour? 
 
The migrants are well represented here as we saw a
couple of Whinchats, Sedge Warblers, Eurasian Marsh
Harriers, Madagascar Bee-eaters and lots of Barn
Swallows. Besides local common species the most
interesting species here includes several White-winged
Warblers, Papyrus and Black Headed Gonoleks, Woodland
Kingfishers, reasonable flocks of Bronze Mannikins,
Locust Finches and Zebra Waxbills, Bar-breasted
Firefinches, Fawn-breasted Waxbills, Brown Twinspot,
Red-chested Sunbirds, lots of Marsh Tchagras (the
highest number I have ever seen), Hartlaub�s Marsh
Widowbirds, most getting into the breeding plumage,
but still with many in non breeding plumage. 

Another Interesting specie here was the White-chinned
Prinias, which we normally see along forest edges (I
managed to take a few good record shots). Opposite the
two ponds on the bridge, there is a small path heading
towards the western side of the bridge and the path
goes down to the Sio River of the opposite side. On
the river bank, lots of Blue-breasted Bee-eaters are
nesting here and feeding on top of the reeds.
Interestingly there are also Little Bee-eaters here
too on the opposite side of the bridge, near the water
pump for your comparison.

If someone waits quietly at these two ponds, it looks
quite promising for the secretive crakes or warblers.
Some of my target species here included the Green
Crombec and the Shining-blue Kingfisher, which have
been recorded along these swamps before-perhaps not
present at the moment. The only severe threat of these
swamps and especially here near the Sio Bridge is the
increasing pressure for agricultural land and Sand
harvesting. Already here a pig portion have been
cleared and cultivated ready for Cassava plantations,
according to the locals we talked to. Lots of Sand is
being harvested here and off course lots of big trucks
driving inside the grasslands to collect the sand.   

We spent about 5 hours birding here walking inside the
reeds and the swamps and in total recorded about 77
species. Later when the sun became so strong, we drove
to Alupe in search of local species here with the main
target being Piapiac. We have seen them at the Alupe
Trypanomiasis Research area and this time we wanted to
photograph, but we were not lucky. Then we drove to
Mungatsi and across Myanga to come out at Malaba road,
a pretty smooth dirt road and worthy exploring at the
right time. We drove here in the heat of the day and
obviously with less bird activity and then drove back
o Malaba.

At Malaba Town, I saw some Rufous Sparrow and House
Sparrows building at the roof of the Emael Tourist
Hotel, where we stayed (reasonably cheep comfortable
hotel) and I wondered how far west they have gone?
Anyone have ever seen them this far west?

Brian Finch is guiding our tour round the country,
birding along these areas as well and he will probably
come up with a more comprehensive report soon.

Wishing you all a Happy birding and a Healthy 2005.

Thanks,

Ben Mugambi.

  


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