Last Birdwatch Walk in Mombasa

To take full advantage of the last few days of Birdwatch, myself and Kelvin Mazera decided to do another list at Nguuni Wildlife Sanctuary on a dry day in contrast to the previously very wet day. We had thought to improve on the numbers but in fact we only improved by 4. The interesting thing is that many of the birds seen on the wet day were not seen on the dry day and vice versa. The "forest" area was now not under water and there were plenty of dudus for the birds to feed on. At one point we had Eastern Bearded Scrub Robin, White Browed Robin Chat, White Browed Scrub Robin and Bare Eyed Thrush within a few feet of each other. Black Throated Wattle Eyes were numerous. Overall a sad lack of migrants. Numerous Spotted Flycatchers, Barn Swallows. Five Common Sandpipers. Black Breasted Snake Eagle, one magnificent Sooty Falcon ( a lifer for Kelvin) dashed in trying to catch Red Billed Fire Finches and a very noisy Isabelline (Red Tailed) Shrike while we were eating lunch. Olivaceous Warbler in the usual Acacia, very hard to see but we did finally manage. Yellow Wagtails seem to be finally arriving, 2 on the ground and a big flock flying in as we left and a sole Eurasian Golden Oriole sums up the visitors. White Throated Bee-Eaters were being very elusive but flew in large numbers into the picnic site where they had a massive feast on some kind of airborn dudu. Such a magnificent sight. Another exciting bird was African Cuckoo Hawk (another lifer for Kelvin) flying over in full view. I have only seen this once before in this area. Pangani's Longclaw (strangely none of the more common Yellow Throated) and Black Headed Batis rounded off the more interesting species. A total of 76 species, about 20 down on what I would expect. Very few water birds at the ponds. Water lilies are being eaten by the Water Bucks, wading areas are overgrown and I wonder how long the acacias will stand up to 9 Giraffes feeding off them? This area, once a fantastic birding spot is definitely on the decline, such a pity. Ah well c'est la vie. A great Birdwatch, hope everybody enjoyed it as much as we did (Marlene Reid and Kelvin Mazera - Mombasa).