Dear All,
I spent another day in Nairobi National Park again on October 20th.  
I wanted to emulate the 18th when I was in there with Mike and Fleur. 
When I wrote up that day I omitted the fully adult male white-phase 
Paradise Flycatcher that was near the Hyena Dam run-off Ford 
Crossing. Only the second I had seen in the Park, the other being 
some eight years ago at Leopard Cliffs.

The day was greyer than the previous visit, although no rain all day 
and a bright late morning onwards. The result of this excursion reads 
like it is from a different location rather than a different day at 
the same location. There was nothing of note until I entered the 
Ivory Burning Site from the north road, exactly where the road opens 
up into the picnic site there was a group of noisy Grey-olive 
Greenbuls in the dense scrub.  Not new for the Park as I had had them 
about eight years ago at Leopard Cliffs in Mbagathi Gorge. Anyone 
with tape of these I feel sure will attract their attention. 
Hopefully they have moved in for the long term. There were no 
migrants other than a single Tree Pipit. 
Nothing of note was recorded on the road towards Splash, but around 
the marshy patch at the small bridge Little Rush Warblers were 
extravert (as elsewhere in the Park), singing loudly, perching right 
in the open and chasing intended mates. Also there was a male 
Jackson's Widowbird singing, even though he had not one black feather 
on him. Red-collared were in small numbers, males already sporting 
long tails though not in breeding plumage, White-winged Widowbirds 
were in their thousands, again still in non-breeding dress, but some 
Red-billed Queleas were already in their breeding plumage. At the 
back of Hyena Dam along the feeder creek, there were Saddle-billed 
Stork and Great Egret perusing frogs. Three Yellow Wagtails and 
another two Tree Pipits were on the open grassland, and a saturated 
Common Buzzard perched on a low bush.
Whilst sitting at the Dam, there was an African Water Rail at the 
edge of recent inundation, and birds called from all corners of the 
swamp. An  immature Purple Heron flew by, both an adult male and a 
sub-adult male Pallid Harriers harassed birds in the area (only one 
other harrier was seen all day and that was a female-plumaged 
Pallid). There was a large assemblage of Barn Swallows and Plain 
Martins, with some twenty Banded Martins, but only one House Martin 
was amongst these.
Along the Mokoyiet below Hyena Dam was a single perched freshly 
plumaged Lesser Striped Swallow, the only bird recorded that day. 
Presumably a returning bird from somewhere. Also along here there 
were "thousands" of swifts moving south-east, scanning through these 
for a brief while there were a few Mottled, quite a lot of African 
Black, but most were Nyanza. Strangely no Common Swift seemed to be 
present, even though Barn Swallows and at least six Sand Martins were 
following he same route. At Karen Primary School Dam there was a pair 
of Yellow-throated Sandgrouse and a White-tailed Lark (both usually 
only seen in Athi Basin), on the old burn area (No.8) Shelley's 
Francolins called noisily, there was a single Isabelline Wheatear and 
an extravert Rosy-breasted Longclaw singing happily. Contrary to two 
days previously Desert Cisticolas were noisy and displaying all 
through the area, but Zitting have not started singing yet (or have 
not moved back).
At the next small dam (No. 9) in one dead tree there was a stunning 
singing male Pangani Longclaw, and an equally vocal Red-tailed 
Shrike. This bird was singing loudly, not the usual sub-song we hear 
here. A little further on there was a displaying (booming) Hartlaub's 
Bustard, and one seen above the Athi Basin was doing the same thing, 
and a pair of Long-billed Pipits on the road were only one of four 
widely distributed sightings all on the rocky southern end of the 
Park. At virtually every stop Eurasian Bee-eaters could be heard, but 
perhaps it was the same flock milling around though this seems 
unlikely. On the descent to Athi Dam there was another White-tailed 
Lark on the track, and the black-cotton soil all the way down, and 
around the northern edge was very boggy. The dam itself held 16 Pink-
backed Pelicans, a dozen African Spoonbills were a good 
concentration, a single Little Egret has come in, but amongst the 
three usual waterfowl there was only a single Garganey. Because of 
the boggy condition parts of the dam could not be accessed, however 
three each of Common and Marsh Sandpipers, a dozen Greenshank and six 
Little Stints could be seen. Only one Spur-winged Plover was evident 
but seven Black-winged Stilts, and two immature Fish Eagles have now 
taken up residence. A single Yellow Wagtail was also in the area.
Towards Cheetah Gate there were a few dry-country species, and two 
Chestnut Weavers in non-breeding plumage were the most unusual. 
Likewise there was a lot of activity on the Rhino Circuit, and a pair 
of Pygmy Kingfishers was displaying and might nest there. At the 
Hippo Pools junction (the Hippo Pool trail was not visited), was a 
male Red-backed Shrike, and in the more attractive open grasslands 
near Kingfisher Picnic Site were four Northern Wheatears, a female-
plumaged Whinchat and an adult Eurasian Roller. In the evening the 
only other bird of note was an immature Steppe Eagle perched on a 
tree on the edge of Kisembe Forest.
I cannot encourage people enough, to take advantage of the conditions 
in Nairobi National Park. This is currently an exceptional season…. 
long may it continue.

I would imagine that during the course of the day I saw around three-
hundred Wildebeest and maybe more, this included two groups of fifty. 
There are small parties virtually throughout the Park.