From: Fleur Ng'weno <fleur@africaonline.co.ke>
Date: 2009-01-07 16:27
Subject: Cape Rooks
Cape Rooks
Happy new year birders
There was a rich variety of waterbirds at Manguo Pond in Limuru, off the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, on the combined Wednesday Morning Birdwalk and African Waterbird Census today 7th January. Four Purple Swamphens were easy to see, but migratory ducks and sandpipers were rather few.
Most intriguing, however, were the activities of a flock of Cape Rooks. We often see a few Cape Rooks at Manguo Pond, but today there were over a dozen, feeding among the livestock tethered near the pond. Some Cape Rooks were perched on the backs of donkeys and sheep, presumably eating ticks or other parasites. Birds of Africa volume VI notes that Cape Rook/Cape Crow “occasionally gleans ectoparasites from backs of large mammals”, but I had never seen them ride on livestock in Kenya before (and sheep can hardly be considered large mammals).
Wishing you good birding, Fleur