Other sightings from recent Sunbird safari

Several people have asked what other interesting birds we saw on the recent Sunbird tour, so here is a short listing of the more unusual sightings:

Dwarf Bittern - one in the deep river gorge that is on the right of the road about 10 km south of Olorgosailie on the road to Lake Magadi - 16 June (Curiously I saw one in exactly the same spot with Don Turner about 20 years ago - and was describing that sighting to my group just before this bird appeared!).

Eurasian Hobby - 1 along the road on the drive south from Kakamega to Kisumu - 28 June (a surprise sighting at this time of year, but definitely not an African Hobby, watched for several minutes by everyone in the group, all of whom are familiar with this reasonably common British breeding bird).

Pintail - an adult male on the Lake Nakuru sewage ponds - 24 June (Brian Finch was of the opinion that this might be the first June record for Kenya, but I note that Lewis & Pomeroy give details of two over-summering individuals (May-July). Clearly VERY unusual though.

African Crake - an adult with a small chick at Ahero Rice Scheme - 29 June (I didn't see these myself but they were seen by Zac Methu and one member of our group - Stef Cohen).

African Finfoot - one at the Blue Posts Hotel where the two rivers come together - 17 June (finally! - my first Kenya sighting after 27 tours to Kenya!).

Green Sandpiper - one roosting on the pool at Mt. Lodge - 17 June (exactly where so many roost at night each winter, but a surprise to me as I did not expect any to over-summer).

Blue-headed Coucal - an adult in Aberdares National Park - 21 June (the first time I have seen this species anywhere other than Lake Victoria, though I appreciate that a Kenyan Highland population does exist).

Least Honeyguide - one in the car park at Kichwa Tempo Camp - 2 July (Brian Finch says he has seen them there occasionally in the past - he lived there for 7 years, of course).

Whistling Cisticola - one singing on a roadside wire at Mungatsi - 27 June (first sighting for me in Kenya, though I've been watching out for it for many years along that road).

Red-billed Buffalo-Weaver - 10 at Ahero Rice Scheme - 29 June (this isolated population is described in Zimmerman et al, but I have only seen them here once before in about 20 visits to Ahero).

We also saw small numbers of several other over-summering Palearctic migrants at Lake Nakuru - five White Storks, 20+ Greenshanks, c.200 White-winged Black Terns (including several in breeding plumage), but most these birds were obviously first-year birds for whom its not worth migrating north in their first year. More surprising though were quite a few sightings of apparent adult Barn Swallows in full breeding plumage. These were scattered all over the country and were seen on four days with up to seven birds seen in one day.

We recorded 584 species in all - not bad for a summer safari when most of the Palearctic species are absent and which did not visit any sites southeast of Nairobi.

Thanks are due to Zac Methu for doing all the driving and spotting lots of the birds and to Steve Turner and Origins for making all the ground arrangements.

David Fisher - Director
Sunbird, P.O. Box 76, Sandy, Bedfordshire, SG19 1DF, United Kingdom
Tel: 01767-262522 Fax: 01767-262916
VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT: www.sunbirdtours.co.uk