Dear friends,

I trust that each and every one of you has been doing
fine this New Year.

Over the weekend, we visited Mount Kenya area with
some friends Anchea and Tom-new Australian bird
watchers who have settled in Kenya on a diplomatic
project. We left Nairobi on Saturday 11th March and
decided to take our first birding stop over at Thika
Blue Post. 

Surprisingly most of the trees here are fruiting now,
even after the previous dry weather; after the recent
rains, the flowers are now blossoming in most of the
places. At Blue Post, the flowers are now in full
colours hence making this place wonderful for
sunbirds; though most of the common species-in our 20
minutes birding we recorded 8 species of sunbirds.

Our highlight here was an adult Ayres’s Hawk-Eagle
that was feeding on a dove perching on the tree above
the Chania Falls. One of the hotel staff told me that
they have seen that eagle within the compound for
sometime chasing doves and I guess this could be a
good place to see them now.

Off to Castle Forest Lodge-Alt 2080m at the base of
Mount Kenya through Sagana-Kutus-Kerogoya Road, the
lodge is located along Kamweti route of climbing Mount
Kenya. This wonderful place is located on the lush
green tropical forest and was built by the British,
originally as a retreat for royalty during the late
twenties. Castle Forest Lodge offers the most stunning
views of Mount Kenya and also an absolutely wonderful
forest birding. For those of us who have been to Rondo
Retreat Centre at Kakamega forest, I can only compare
Castle Forest Lodge with Rondo.

In our overnight birding, we saw Long-crested Eagle,
African Crowned Eagle, Mountain and Augur Buzzards,
Common and African Stonechats (albofasciata),
Kenrick’s, Waller’s (nesting in a dead tree in the
compound) and Sharpe’s Starlings, most of the Montane
specials like Orioles, White-eyes, Warblers and
Greenbuls, African Hill Babbler, Oriole-Finch, lots of
Blackcaps and Willow Warblers. Others are Red-fronted
Parrots (a flock of about 15 roosting in a huge tree
by the nearby waterfalls), White-headed hoopoes, lots
of Hunter’s Cisticolas, Grey, Black-headed,
Chestnut-throated, Black-collared and Black-throated
Apalis, Olive, Green and Eastern Bronze-naped Pigeons,
Tambourine, Lemon and Red-eyed Doves, Moustached Green
Tinkerbirds, White-headed and White-eared Barbets,
Isabelline Shrike, Scarce and Alpine Swifts,
Green-headed, Tacazze, Bronze, Northern
Double-collared and Eastern Double-collared Sunbirds
among other common species. 

At dusk two different pairs of African Green Ibis flew
above us going to roost somewhere; in the morning, we
saw two pairs again flying above the forest. They
might have been the same one we had seen the previous
night and I think that they must have been roosting
somewhere near Castle Forest Lodge.

Only two hours drive (utmost) from Nairobi Castle
Forest Lodge is a nice place to spend a birding
weekend; contact Melia on Email -
castlelodge@wananchi.com

Happy birding,

Ben Mugambi.


Professional Safari Guide/Director,
Ben's Ecological Safaris,
P.O. Box 5898-00100,
Nairobi-Kenya
Tel/Fax: +254-020-3755290/1
Cell Phone: +254-722-861072
            +254-734-873923
www.bensecologicalsafaris.com

..For Professional Bird Watching and Wildlife Holidays in East Africa......

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