Dear All,

28th April I was briefly at Karen Club. Still one each of Willow and 
Sedge Warblers. A pair of Cape Wagtails are nest-building on the 
same site that they had nested before. There was a single Thick-
billed Seedeater around the wetlands and a Fish Eagle was unexpected.

On 30th April I went down the Magadi Road to the hill overlooking 
the Ol Kejo River. Ostensibly it was to see if the butterflies had 
yet emerged, and so did not get to the area until after 9-00 am.

Most of the residents were encountered, Bare-eyed Thrushes had 
become very extravert and were singing in full view from the tops of 
the trees. The orange bare skin was not restricted to the immediate 
area of the eye, but covered much of the face. Quite different when 
I compared them to photos from Tsavo. Maybe it becomes more 
extensive in the breeding season. Six Cuckoo species included a 
Great Spotted. On the top of the hill a Little Rock Thrush was very 
noisy, and a pair of Ngong (Pringle's) Puffbacks were engaged in a 
pre-nuptial chase through the Acacia mellifera on the slopes. For 
the first time I managed to get a photograph of the female, 
something that has proven impossible before because of her habit of 
hiding deep in cover. From what I see, she is also different from 
nominate Pringle's Puffbacks well to the east. I don't have any 
photos of female nominate for a good comparison, does anyone out 
there possess any?

There was an adult male Northern Wheatear at Corner Baridi which is 
a very late date for the species. I encountered two Willow Warblers 
and three Whitethroats, so there must still be numbers moving 
northwards. A few Barn Swallows passed through the area.

On 1st May I was in Nairobi Park. In the early morning whilst it was 
still cool many butterflies were basking quite openly on the edge of 
the forest. The Croton Moth caterpillars have stripped all crotons 
as elsewhere in the Nairobi area, at home they were so thick on the 
ground to a density of several hundred per square foot, I have never 
seen a plague like this before. Presumably they have exhausted food 
supplies and are now trying to find more, and failing. Massive 
morning die offs are a current feature.

Below Impala Lookout there is an extravert Broad-tailed Warbler 
posing openly on a ridge of Maasai Mint, then launching high into 
the air in a song flight. I had been at Olmanyi Dam for an hour, 
when a Madagascar Squacco Heron appeared out of the sedges, quite an 
early date for this first of the returning southern migrants. Barn 
Swallows were still in good numbers moving through, the only other 
migrant passerines being Sedge Warblers at Olmanyi and two Red-
backed Shrikes in Athi Basin. At Athi Dam there were one Greenshank, 
two Marsh Sandpipers, two Wood Sandpipers and a Little Stint. The 
pair of Spur-winged Plovers were in the usual spot, the small Lesser 
Masked Weaver colony on the Causeway was thriving and there were 
three Black-crowned Night-Herons. Ruai Dam is not very easy to 
access at present, there are some bad patches from "The Beacon" 
which could trap the unwary, but from the main road the bad muddy 
patches are bypassed with tracks through the grassy edge. Ruai only 
had a female Knob-billed Duck and a Yellow-crowned Bishop, there 
were also two in Athi Basin.

Still the Cardinal Queleas have not returned athough the area is 
full of cavorting Widowbirds.

Best Birding

Brian