Senegal Plover

An amusing birding anecdote! One night last week, after celebrating a birthday with a few friends with good food and nice wine, I retired to bed and found that I had a mid-night visitor in my bedroom. Flying madly round the room was a medium sized bird, fairly long wing span, white in wings and underside. Not being a in a very fit state to start IDing and being most concerned about capturing the bird before it damaged its wings I managed to flush it down to the floor in a dark corner, threw a light cover over it and took it out onto the balustrade of the verandah from where it flew down to the garden. I did get a good view of its long dark legs, dark brown back, grey crown with white forehead, bright white secondaries. While in my hand wrapped in towel I had close up view of the yellow eye with narrow red ring round iris and a not very distinct orbital eye-ring. I jotted all this info down feeling that this was a bird I was fairly familiar with but not being up to the task of remembering...and sure enough in the morning I went straight to the Plover page to confirm it as a Senegal Plover. A bird we see up on the grasslands at Nguuni. Zimmerman says it is active at night but strange it flew into my room, presumably through the open French door. Pretty far from the grassland! A special birthday present! Keep birding Marlene Reid (Mombasa)