Dear all
Yestareday spent my day birding around the Ol Doinyo Sapuk in Thika. 
Had about 20 individuals of Eurasian Bee eaters, Barn Swallows.

Had only 40 min in the park which was far much worth confirming a breeding
record of Hinde's Babbler. 4 individuals and atleast one juvenile with large
visible pale gape, dark eye, very pale brown flanks with no mottlings and
making hash call like begging for food.

Also Red-capped Robin Chat singing but could not located. They were around last
dec and jan which may mean they are resident???????????

With Kind Regards 

chege wa kariuki
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Birdwatching East Africa
E-mail:chege@birdwatchingeastafrica.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Po. Box 2286 00100
GPO Nairobi Kenya
Tel: +254 (0)20) 201 4 724
Cel: +254 (0)722 329 570


Also visit Kenya Birdfinder's 
http://www.worldbirds.org/kenya 
enter any old or new records of kenya and help in monitoring the population 
trends of our birds.... afterall you can download checklists free-of-charge


Quoting Itai Shanni <itaisha1@yahoo.com>:

> Dear all,
> It has been long (a year in fact) since I had a chance of birding down the
> Magadi Road. Today I took the opportunity and together with Brian and Tal we
> drove down to see what can we find.
>  
> Over all it is very dry all over the place and even at Ol-tepesi there is no
> water as the pipe have been broken and the place is deserted.
>  
> Very few birds all the way down and the habitat seems to be vanishing in a
> hazardous speed to charcoal burnings. At the first bridge where we were used
> to see so many birds it seems that there is no more trees left to support
> birds. What is left, is already being hammered.
>  
> After the disappointment at Ol-tepesi we decided to continue down the Eremit
> Rd. to try and find some of the birds that Brian reported before from this
> area.
>  
> All the way to Eremit is was still very dry and other than the few Singing
> Bush Larks, there was not much to stop for. At one point where we stopped,
> Brian found a nice male Yellow-throated Plated Lizard in full breeding
> colours that brought some interest to this dull morning.
>  
> When arriving to the Eremit Valley, we found some water and also some birds
> at last. 
> It was not long till we saw the first interesting bird; a White-headed Barbet
> of the subspecies leucocephalus which is usually found only in Ruma NP, Mt.
> Elgon and Kongelai Escarpment. What does it do so far to the east is still a
> mystery to be solved…
> Further down the stream a Bearded Woodpecker (which is a nice bird wherever
> you find one) and a group of Arrow-marked Babblers that the nearest record
> should be Lake Naivasha. Also around was a pair of Northern Brownbuls that
> are more related to Tsavo, Amboseli and Samburu usually than the southern
> Rift Valley.
>  
> On the migrants’ front, not much was seen during the all day, but few
> Willow Warblers, at least 2-3 Upcher’s Warblers and few more Spotted
> Flycatchers. Not a single migrant raptor and only 2 raptors all together. On
> the way back a breeding male Steel-blue Whydah was also passing by.
>  
> Surprises are still awaiting to be found down the southern parts of the Rift
> Valley and so close to Nairobi, but with the current decrease in habitat it
> is probably a very tight race what will come first?!
>  
> Itai Shanni
>  
> I rather go birding...
> ***************************************
> Itai Shanni 
>  
> General Manager 
> Hula Birdwatching Centre 
> Israel Ornithological Centre (BirdLife partner in Israel) 
> TEL: +972-523-689773 
> iochula@netvision.net.il 
> www.hula-birding.com
>  
> OR
>  
> itaisha1@yahoo.com
> http://www.geocities.com/itaisha1
> 
> 00-972-522-497541 (ISR)
> 00-254-722889099 (KE)
>  
> P.O. Box 47419 
> Nairobi 
> Kenya
> or
> P.O.Box 63
> Yesod Hamaala 12105
> Israel