here is Brian's last roundup for January

> Dear All,
> I went to the eastern Mara this weekend with Richard
> and Ann Bishop, to
> try and find Karamoja Apalis for them. Stopping at
> the wooded luggas
> along the Keekerok Road we found a group of
> Grey-headed Woodpeckers,
> these birds have been split in Sinclair and Ryan,
> one of the criteria
> being the absence of barring on the flight feathers,
> however these birds
> were as barred as normal Grey Woodpecker but they do
> have extensive red
> patches on the belly. There were a number of Little
> Weavers in the
> canopy, the males being in breeding plumage. We
> easily located the
> original pair of Karamoja Apalis on the track to
> Naibor Shompole Camp.
> On the plains we found a White-tailed Lark, the
> first that I had seen
> that far east in the Mara. The bird was very
> blackish above, and showing
> a prominent pale panel the length of the primaries
> and well marked
> facial pattern. At Naibor Albie Venter (the Manager)
> took us on a walk
> to a nearby permanent spring. There were some
> Rufous-chested Swallows
> coming in to roost, and a couple of Southern
> Grosbeak Canarys. In the
> camp there was a female Golden-winged Sunbird
> feeding on the bushes.
> The next morning (Sunday) we incredibly relocated
> the White-tailed Lark
> in the same place, and had some twenty Athi
> Short-toed Larks. We
> relocated the Karamoja Apalis so that Albie could
> get some photos (and
> he got some incredible shots), then looked at the
> “Buffy” Pipits. This
> is an area that needs some work, the literature
> states that there are
> two races of Plain-backed Pipit in Kenya, goodsoni
> and zenkeri. In this
> area the two are side by side. The goodsoni looks
> like an Isabelline
> Wheatear  with the same upright stance, exactly the
> same colour and
> pattern but with a longer tail and uniform rump. It
> sits only on the
> ground, never on bushes. When it walks the breast is
> exaggeratedly
> thrust forward. The Plain-backed Pipit is dark above
> and quite dark
> below, the actions are wagtail-like and the bird
> walks with the body
> held more horizontally. Readily perches on bushes. I
> have long thought
> of the goodsoni as more like the southern Buffy
> Pipit, as that is just
> what they look like. In the area we had over twenty
> Taita Fiscals they
> are very numerous here. As we had had such an easy
> time finding the
> original Karamojas for Albie to photograph we
> decided to spend the rest
> of the early morning searching the drepanolobium
> along the main road,
> and after an hour of this finally located a second
> pair of Karamoja
> Apalis feeding quietly, some five kilometres from
> the original site.
> Such a relief to learn that there is not just the
> one pair in Kenya!
> Also in this area there were some ten Pangani
> Longclaws which were
> displaying as if ready to breed.
>  
> Zimmermann & Turner and Stevenson & Fanshawe were
> unaware of these
> western  populations of Athi Short-toed Lark,
> Pangani Longclaw, Taita
> Fiscal and Southern Grosbeak Canary and considered
> them only east of the
> Rift in Southern Kenya, but the populations of all
> four species is
> considerable in this strange part of the Mara
> ecosystem.
>  
> Other rather unusual sightings were a Cape Robin
> Chat in a dry lugga
> along the main Keekerok road back towards Narok, an
> adult Eastern
> Chanting Goshawk ten kilometres west of Narok, being
> a surprise find,
> but perhaps the strangest was a Lesser Flamingo
> standing in a dampish
> basin in the Kedong Valley.
>  
> Last Sunday (22nd) I went into Nairobi Park, still
> plenty of Isabelline
> and now an increase in Pieds, but little else away
> from the dams. Athi
> Dam now had increased to five Avocets, [a further
> increase to 7 on 1st
> Feb], and a new arrival was a very attractive adult
> White Wagtail.
> Otherwise there were fewer waders and six Shoveler.
>  
> More news from Steven Easleys trip….. a White
> Wagtail and Black Duck at
> Eldoret Airport Dam, 3 White Wagtails Nakuru Sewage
> Ponds, juvenile
> Spotted Eagle Nakuru,  a Fox Kestrel at the base of
> the western cliffs
> of Nakuru (where the six long stayers were a few
> years ago),  a
> Beaudouin’s Snake Eagle at Madende Creek and what
> was probably the same
> bird seen at Sio River the same day, 6 Black Herons
> at Naivasha Club,
> Little Ringed Plover and White Wagtail at Ol
> Bolossat (Nyahururu), and
> between  500 and 1000 Yellow-crowed Bishops at Mwea
> Rice finally  a
> Gambaga Flycatcher at Baringo Cliffs.
>  
> Best to all for now
>  
> Brian

I rather go birding...
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Itai Shanni                    
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