Dear All,
A New Year has dawned, and a Happy New one to everybody.  I ventured
out into Nairobi National Park on Sunday 4th January. I was last there
on 12th December, and judging by the "net" no-one has since visited
the Park. One would imagine that the migrants would be on their
wintering territories by now, but there might still be reasonable
numbers of some species heading south. Today I went in under the new
KWS rates, maybe with this increment they will get someone to fill in
the Aardvark holes on some main tracks, which have now had their first
birthdays!
So not expecting too much, but always hoping for something special I
entered Main Gate to find that I could not use my card as I was still
in Nakuru (from 13th December!), but getting a temporary card was
achieved rapidly. There was nothing much until reaching Ivory Burning
Site.  On arrival there was a family of rather extravert African
Firefinch's on the edge of the bush. A nice surprise was an Upcher's
Warbler in the Acacia gerardii, where three wintered last year, maybe
the other two are still on their way. There were at least ten
Nightingales calling from the bush, and five were seen which is
somewhat of a record. Whilst watching them I could hear the long
decelerating dry rattle of Iranias. In all these years, even from the
seemingly suitable Acacia mellifera in the south of the park I have
never heard an Irania call in NNP and so I was determined to see these
birds. I crouched inside the scrub next to the picnic tables and
"pished." Several Nightingales came to investigate, as did a couple of
Garden Warblers and a few other resident skulkers, and finally a
female Irania crept in. I heard another call, further towards the
entrance and waited inside the bush, and a beautiful male came by. A
third bird called from the scrub on the opposite side to the clearing.
A Zanzibar Sombre Greenbul was singing, but shortly after 7-00am went
completely quiet. They certainly seem to be resident somewhere in the
dense scrub back and beyond the toilets, which is quite an extensive
wilderness that cannot be accessed. Scaly Francolin were also calling
from the scrub, it's strange that Scaly and Crested find this habitat
both to their liking, they cannot coexist like this in many
localities. There was also a single Eurasian Roller enjoying the low
bright sunlight. I drove slowly along the back road, and what looked
like the same male Irania was feeding fairly openly along the edge of
the scrub.  I saw a large warbler skulking on the edge of a bush, and
waited patiently for it to reappear, it was what I had first expected,
an adult Barred Warbler, complete with bars and yellow eyes. This was
the first that I had ever seen in the Park,  it has been recorded from
nearby Splash, and apparently there are old records (uncited) from the
seventies, but for me it was a first in NNP. A little further along
the road, both Nightingale and another Irania called.  So there was a
minmun of four in this area, and who knows how many more. It will be
interesting to see if any other records from unsual locations
materialise in the next few days. At the back of Hyena Dam there was a
Whinchat and the only Yellow Wagtail of the day.  A Red-tailed Shrike
was the first of five that day, four appearing to be adult
isabellinus, and one undetermined heavily barred immature. Also a
Booted Eagle was soaring along the edge of the scrub.
Hyena Dam was very quiet,  a Pallid Harrier flew over the area as did
a lost Black-winged Stilt. I did not even see any water as the place
is so overgrown. Zebra Waxbill were in the bulrushes. Along the road
(via 4B), the tall grassland had two pairs of Kori Bustards, but the
Rosy-breasted Longclaws were not obvious and only one bird was seen in
flight. In fact the grasslands are now so quiet, that none of Desert,
Pectoral-patch or Zitting were heard the entire day.  There were two
Montagu's Harrier and three Lesser Kestrels over the grasslands.
Continuing on to Olmanyi Dam there was another Whinchat, but only a
few Sedge Warblers churring from the sedges. There were swifts coming
in to drink, and I spent an hour with them to obtain some photographs.
Some were brown with darker bellies, and no translucency in the wings,
I suspect they were pekinensis Common Swifts, but the photographs will
have to be examined. Other than this there were Little, White-rumped,
Black and Mottled. Also Palm which were in fact throughout the Park,
very different to when I led a tour throughout central Kenya in
November, and the only individuals seen were at JKA and along Uhuru
Highway. There are certainly movements in this species that we don't
understand.  From here I continued to Kingfisher Picnic Site, the male
Pied Wheatear was as usual present, and joined by a male Northern
Wheater, with two more further along the road. From here I travelled
the southern road, towards Athi Dam, there was little to be seen and
this part of the Park which is so dry, not having had anything like
the rain that the northern parts had received. In the Athi Basin there
were a couple of White-tailed Larks, one of which chose to perch on a
bush. The Mara-Serengeti bird, with the different voice does at times
land on bushes, and I have even had them sing from the top of a low
bush, but the scratchy eastern birds I have never seen land on
anything but the ground before, ( and only sing in flight) so it was
worthy of a photo. An Eurasian Roller, a couple of Isabelline and one
Pied Wheatear were all that was to be seen in the surrounds.
The dam itself is losing water fast, but there are so many little bays
and small islands there that it is still attractive to birds. Amongst
the usual Marabou and Yellow-billed were eight White Storks, whilst
there were small numbers of African Spoonbills present, there were no
egrets (other than Cattle) and only one Grey Heron so the fishing
cannot be the best now. Apart from the usual waterfowl there was a
single Knob-billed Duck and three Northern Shoveler. Good news for the
Spur-winged Plovers, they have successfully raised a chick that looks
already like a miniature of the adult but with more fluff. There were
two pairs of adults present, and the second pair might also be nesting
and they were chasing allcomers into their territory. Blacksmith had
one large chick, as did two pairs of Three-banded Plovers, and even
some Kittlitz looked very young, but might have come from outside of
the Park. Some thirty Black-winged Stilts were all around the
perimeter, and there was so much squabbling and apparent
territoriality, that it is even possible that they might settle down
and nest. Waders were in small numbers, forty Little Stint, fifteen
Marsh Sandpipers being the more numerous species, with just two Ruff,
three Greenshank, three Common and one Wood Sandpiper. The best
species present was a Collared Pratincole in full breeding dress,
being only the third time I have seen this species in the Park, all at
Athi Dam. I managed a video of the bird catching dragonflies (Banded
Groundlings) whilst it was on foot. I never imagined that a pratincole
which has  such short legs could catch flying dragonflies by running
after them. It would see a Groundling coming along, crouch down low,
then run after it and catch it whilst it (the dragonfly) was still
flying…. an amazing sight, and very impressive. Two Steppe Eagles
arrived to sit by the water, and there were about fifteen Red-throated
Pipits including one very bright male, but the number was lower than
expected. Back on the dam there were two White-winged Black Terns
picking food from the surface whilst in flight, a single immature
Great Cormorant was the first I have seen in the Park for some time,
and solitary Little Grebe and Red-knobbed Coot. There were two adult
Black-crowned Night-Herons roosting along the causeway. Rhino Circuit
was very quiet and dry, there was a male Von der Decken's Hornbill,
which is an uncommon visitor to the Park, Violet Wood-Hoopoes were
heard, and four Lesser Masked Weaver the male of which was in full
breeding plumage. An out-of-place sight here was of three Red-winged
Starlings. There were singles Common and Green Sandpiper along the
Mbagathi but nothing else.
Driving towards Hippo Pools (not investigated), I found some fifteen
African Silverbills feeding by the roadside, another Park first for
me. Bernd de Bruijn found a few some seven years ago near Athi Dam,
but otherwise there are no local records. At the junction to the Rual
Dam road there were a further eight African Silverbills, so there must
be an incursion into the area. The Dam itself only produced eleven
Common Snipe and a Greenshank, but the water is rapidly disappearing.
The last stop before exiting was at Nagalomon Dam, where six Green and
two Wood Sandpipers had arrived for roosting. Barn Swallows were in
good numbers throughout the Park, as were Quail-Finch.
Even at this time of year which would have been expected to be
reasonably quiet, it most certainly wasn't.
Commonest mammal seen in the Park, Common Zebra, second commonest
mammal Common Cow!!!!!

As a footnote…. Back on the 2nd November I wrote of a bird at Ivory
Burning Site…."The most interesting bird there was a Paradise
Flycatcher. This male was spectacular, black/white wings and all grey
underparts, the longest pure white tail I can ever remember on the
species, but the most interesting feature was that the remainder of
the tail feathers were rufous like the normal phase. Has anyone ever
seen this plumage before?.... I returned home and did some research
into the Paradise Flycatcher I had seen (and photographed/videoed).
Now I am so very confused.
Firstly I really can never recall having seen a male Paradise
Flycatcher with red tail yet white centres, and yet in Ryan and
Sinclair, it is illustrated as "the norm" and in the Handbook there is
my bird in the centre of the plate. It is labelled as "ferreti" and
"ferreti" is the race that occurs in Kenya and even the white morph of
the (usually) dry/hot zones is still "ferreti."  Neither S&F nor T&Z
illustrate the quite stunning form that I saw today at the Ivory
Burning Site, in the local treatment of the region. So maybe these
authors are not familiar with this form in Kenya either. So why has
Martin Woodcock chosen this individual to illustrate in the Handbook
as an example of "ferreti,"  and what is the origin of the specimen
used? Does this striking plumage occur more frequently and for some
reason I have been blind to it, or is this a wanderer from
far-afield?...."
Thanks to Neil Baker in Tanzania, he followed up on this report, and
wrote to Martin Woodcock who was very prompt in his own reply, and
Nigel Cleere kindly checked the original specimen in Tring. I hope you
can now see why the bird was so intriguing to me, so I thought you
would like to see the steps that brought about the interesting result…

"Hi Brian
just so you can see I'm following up your flycatcher note.
hope all is well
any records for our Atlas ?
Neil"

"Hallo both,
…..I will e-mail Mark Adams at Tring and ask him to look at the 
Flycatchers as
I can`t remember now why I painted that particular morph, except that 
it is,
I think, the only race in which this tail pattern occurs…..
Martin [Woodcock]

Hi Mark,
I have had an e-mail from Brian Finch in Kenya about my
illustration in the Birds of Africa vol. 5 plate 29 of the
Paradise Flycatcher of the race ferreti. He lives in Kenya , where
this race occurs, but has never seen - or never noticed - a bird
with a rufous tail except for the central white feathers. He asks
why I chose this specimen, and is it typical. I really can`t
remember, but I have a feeling that this colour morph only occurs
in the race ferreti, and as it is so striking I thought it worth
painting. Next time you are rootling around amongst the African
Paradise Flycatchers, perhaps you could just cast a quick eye over
the relevant races to see if that specimen is unique, or if there
are others, and from where. Absolutely no rush - just when you have
the time and inclination! I don`t see my getting to Tring in the near
future, otherwise I would look myself.
Hope all is well with you,
Martin

Dear Martin,
I have checked our skins of the ferreti race of Paradise Flycatcher
and can only find a
single specimen that matches your illustration in volume 5 of The
Birds of Africa. This
specimen was collected on 24th December 1912, 20 miles south of 
Baringo, British
East Africa by W.Lowe. All of our other rufous type males from Kenya
have completely
rufous tails. We also have quite a few specimens of white males, on
which the tails are
generally all white.
Bearing in mind the colour variation within this species, it would
appear that the bird
you illustrated was a bit of a 'one-off' for the race ferreti.
If I come across any specimens of other races that match your
illustration, I will be sure
to let you know but a quick glance didn't reveal any.
Best wishes,
Nigel [Cleere]