Dear All,

On Saturday 12th April I went into Nairobi National Park for the day. It was cloudy and quite cool, and I entered Langata Gate where for the fourth time in sucession (mine) the girl who operated the smart card machine had not arrived. Anyway along the edge of the forest were a Common Buzzard and three Tree Pipits. There were a few Red-backed Shrikes but no other migrants. I checked the new heronry on Nagalomon Dam, and there was a Darter resting next to the Long-tailed Cormorant nests, although not showing any sign of owning one itself. It would be so nice if they could follow the lead of the other birds and settle down. Whilst I was at Ivory Burning Site, a shower started. There were three Spotted Flycatchers (of six seen), the Upcher’s Warbler was still about, and three Willow Warblers. Nothing of any note was seen between here and the back route to Hyena Dam, there was a Darter here possible the Nagalomon Dam bird, and the rain started.  This
 continued for about an hour, and I sat in the car wondering why I was there. Although still drizzling I persisted, taking the back road that continues past Hyena Dam there were numerous Shrikes catching freshly emerging alates. I encountered during the day something like four to five hundred Red-backed, but only twenty five Lesser Grey. The total of Red-backed in NNP must have been quite vast.  It’s still early days for the shrikes and numbers should soon build up. On the burnt area were three amorous Black Rhinos, five Black-winged Plover, two female-type Montagu’s Harriers, a Booted Eagle and along the Mokoyiet River a half-dozen Eurasian Hobbies, and amongst the Little Swifts, a group of Nyanzas. The dam before the turn-off to East Gate had a very attractive group of ten Fulvous Whistling Duck. Along the road was a male Black-bellied Bustard, I believe that these are not resident in the Park but just wet season visitors. Three Mountain Reedbuck
 rested on the rocks in their usual place. Ruai Dam had nothing as the water level was too high. At Athi Dam palearctic waders were represented by just a dozen Wood Sandpipers, otherwise nine Southern Pochard were the highlight. The Sacred Ibis colony was in full swing, and in the same tree male Lesser Masked Weavers were singing on territory… they bred here two years ago. It was difficult to see how the two Black-crowned Night-Herons slept, with all the Ibis cacophony. I met up with Fleur here who had followed a different route to me, and no doubt will be telling you of her finds. White-tailed Larks were very noisy around the dam and across to the Cheetah Gate Road. Barn Swallows started moving at mid-day and there was a fairly heavy and consistent movement pretty much throughout. Near Cheetah Gate there was a male Marico Sunbird in the same place as six weeks ago, and a Red-and-Yellow Barbet, my second in NNP the first being only two weeks previously
 at the back of Hyena Dam….. surely not the same bird. The only migrants were three Willow Warblers and a number of Red-backed Shrikes. On Rhino Circuit, there were three Violet Wood-Hoopoes in the riverine trees, a single female Golden Orione and one Olivaceous Warbler, a Broad-billed Roller in very dull plumage, maybe already a Madagasan migrant… this too was only my second in the Park. But the best bird was a stunning male Eurasian Nightjar I found roosting up in an acacia, and managed some really stunning photos of this species so rarely seen well…. apart from the roosting birds regularly in the restaurant at Ngulia of course. But this was a fresh spring bird, only a few feet away and slightly above eye-level. Back on the road was an absolutely dazzling Eurasian Roller. It was already 5-00pm, so I left to return through Langata Gate finding ten Lions as a finale to a great day that I was at one time ready to pull the plug.

Best to all

Brian

Dear All,

On 4th April after some rain in the past week, I went into NNP. The small pond near the Langata Gate entrance again had a pair of African Black Duck. There was little else along the forest edge, although a pair of Nairobi Pipits were near Impala Lookout. The Long-tailed Cormorants and Black-crowned Night-Herons found at Nagalomon Dam on 24th March were on their nests. Not much in the way of migrants at Ivory Burning Site, one Upcher’s Warbler still there, but other than that only three Willow Warblers and two Spotted Flycatchers (of six seen in the morning). There were single bright Eurasian Rollers at the base of Impala Lookout and near Hyena Dam. Here there were also an immature Ayre’s Hawk-Eagle sitting in the trees there, a single Lesser Kestrel, Eurasian Cuckoo and a Lesser Grey Shrike (the only other Lesser Grey Shrike seen that morning was in the Athi Basin. The burnt area was very disappointing with all migrant Paleearctic chats having
 departed, although a pair of Capped Wheatears were present. Only a total of six Red-backed Shrikes were seen, the only Red-tailed was on the Cheetah Gate road, and whilst on Shrikes, a Taita Fiscal in the Athi Basin was only the second I have ever seen in the Park. Athi Dam like many of the dams in the eastern side had received much rain, and it had quite sterilised the place as far as migrant waders were concerned with only four Little Stints and two Common Sandpipers. Four Black-winged Stilts had moved in together with Great, Yellow-billed and Little Egrets, following the rains. There were three Pink-backed Pelicans, seventy White-faced Whistling-Ducks with no interesting duck amongst them, and a solitary Red-throated Pipit. The most interesting thing here was that (no great surprise considering the Mombasa Road colonies) Sacred Ibis are now nesting in the acacias along the dam wall… however this does appear to be a new breeding species for the
 Park. Other than that there were three Eurasian Bee-eaters near Cheetah Gate, where there was also a female Eurasian Golden Oriole, and Barn Swallows were only a mere trickle.
A slow puncture discovered in the southern part of the Park necessitated a mid-day retreat, earlier than planned.

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I went for a day into Nairobi National Park on Easter Monday (24th March). There had been recent rain and the place was greening, especially the extensive burnt areas. In spite of the rains, dams are very low and fast disappearing, so we require a lot more rain to see us through the next dry season.

I started at Langata Gate with two Black Duck on the small dam near the entrance, and a Common Buzzard at the edge of the forest, from here I descended the ridge, finding a pair of Nairobi Pipits at the start of the descent, and two Eurasian Rollers and a single Eurasian Golden Oriole all flying over.

At Nagalomon Dam I could hear young herons calling, and located six adult, one sub-adult and three fluffy chick Black-crowned Night Herons, above these were five Long-tailed Cormorants also sitting on nests whilst others were under construction. This is the first time I have ever seen either species nesting in the Park.

The Ivory Burning Site was interesting, in the Acacia gerardii were singles of Olivaceous, Upcher’s (presumed one of the wintering birds), Blackcap, Garden Warbler and two Willow Warblers. Also here were a few Eurasian Bee-eaters, two Nightingales and a couple of Red-tailed Shrikes (of a total of five recorded all day), and two Spotted Flycatchers (of six recorded throughout the day).


At the back of the of Hyena Dam was for me the most interesting species in the Park that day, with two Rufous Sparrows attacking a Red-and-Yellow Barbet. Recorded in the Park historically, but certainly the first I have seen there. Also here were an adult female Saddle-billed Stork feeding along the feeder from Splash.
At the dam itself there were African Water Rails calling, six Eurasian Black Kites, two Eurasian Marsh Harriers, a Common Buzzard, a Spur-winged Goose, two Wood Sandpipers, single Yellow Wagtail and Tree Pipit, and a Sedge Warbler feeding in the typha.