Dear All,
Today 13th January I went into Nairobi National Park with Fleur. The recent fires have brought a number of interesting species into the Park, and whilst dams are falling several are in good condition.
We only entered main-gate at 7-30am and left through there at 18-45pm. The area west of Olmanyi dam was not visited, only Hyaena Dam to Hippo Pools and Athi Basin.
Our first stop was a the Ivory Burning Site. There were a few birds here, a few Willow Warblers, an Upcher’s Warbler in the flowering acacia, a couple of Spotted Flycatchers, a Red-tailed Shrike and two Nightingales calling from cover. There was also a distant flock of about forty Eurasian Bee-eaters.
Just a little beyond here a very rare bird in the Nairobi area, an African Hobby streaked past us pursuing a Black Saw-wing, [this is a new species for the Park and the 513th species recorded here], and there was a female Narina Trogon sitting low in a bush.
Hyaena Dam was impossible to cover with the encroaching Typha blocking the view, although a Hippo was easier to spot. There were a few Yellow Wagtails around the animals here and a Marsh Harrier.
On a burnt area (the junction where the road bridge crosses the Mokiyet) there were four Montagu’s Harriers, a Common Buzzard, singles Common and Lesser Kestrels, three Isabelline, three Northern and two Pied Wheatears, three Whinchats, two Red-tailed Shrikes (with one being a very pale isabellinus), and a flock exceeding a hundred Athi Short-toed Larks. Returning past here there were additionally a Temminck’s Courser, and a couple of pairs of Black-winged Plover and some thirty Barn Swallows presumably heading off to a roost.
Olmanyi Dam provided little apart from four Common Snipe, a couple of Wood Sandpipers and a Greenshank.
Athi Dam was in good condition, and apart from the more usual species were 19 White Stork, a single Open-billed Stork and a solitary Glossy Ibis. There were over forty Little Stints and a similar number of Red-throated Pipits.
Hippo Pools was very unexciting, and rather dry. The Mbagathi level being very low in places.
The Park is at the moment wall to wall mammals, with the success of the recent burns, and well worth going to see.
A Happy and Peaceful New Year to all
Brian