From: chege wa kariuki <chege@birdwatchingeastafrica.com>
Date: 2009-04-27 19:51
Subject: cisticola Id help and other records
Dear all
Greetings hoping this finds you all.

Sorry for being quiet for long. been blessed with some work in the field.
This is a request for id help of this Cisticola spp. On the 4th of Jan 09 Dr. Peter Lack, Diene, Alexander Lack and I saw this cisticola in Masai Mara National Reserve. The pic can be view at
http://www.birdwatchingeastafrica.com/records.htm.

On the first sight i called it a Pectoral-patched Cisticola and in a matter of sec she started calling making me immediately withdraw the id and for sure was a song i had never heard before or i wasn't familiar with. Good enough she turned and we well saw the rufous flanks down to the legs (above tarsus) a fluffy white throat when singing was visible on the grassland of two-thirds of a meter height, was seen between Serena and Olololoo Gate but closer to the gate. After moving closer one individual flew in to a nearby bush and started singing. I photographed the bird and recorded the song.

Would very much appreciate all your input on that cisticola

Other Records worth noting though late
Other records of interest would be a pair of African Green Ibis nesting in Gatamaiyu Forest late last year. Dr. Don Cowan et all and I were in the forest and while tracking a hooting Bar-tailed Trogon and who kept moving away and away from us, found our selves near a nest with 2 pullies? or pullus? of the Ibis. We did not have great views of the adult as she flew away soon after we found the nest but we weren't expecting any other ibis in that dense forest part. Two weeks later with a Govind Kumar of Dubai  we were able and lucky to find the same bird and the juvs still in the same nest.

on 21st Dec with Dr. Peter Lack et al again a rather out of range pair of Black-throated Wattle-eye at the bridge past Amboseli Sopa Lodge, previous day a single Chestnut-banded Plover at the wetlands near Maji ya Kioko. While Maji ya Kioko had 1 ad African Skimmer and an immature some 2 weeks ago (i dont have my notebook with me here)

In March 09 at Chogoria Route, Mt Kenya National Park, Abbotts Starling seemed relatively common by visual and calls, a single Green-backed Twinspot (my last twinspot lifer) a hooting owl calling from the Hagenia Forest at 3000mASL, I recorded the call but still haven't figured it out. has two note of whua..whua in a sec or less made by a bird on flight at night and would start calling at around 10pm. . Tried for Abyssinian Long-eared Owl and Striped Flufftail with no luck. If anyone has the Long-eared Owl call would like to compare with what i recorded. At 3300mASL a singe Secretary Bird seen for 2 days. My first one at this height....well there seemed to be abundance of the Alpine Meadow Skinks if the bird can feed on them. the Secretary Bird though seemed a lost individual. At 4200mASL a pair of Martial Eagle. Do they really get to this height? anyway my first one also at that height. A single Pallid Harrier above 3000mASL. A single Bat Hawk close but above Sirimon Gate 2400mASL flying along the cliff edge but in the forest on a night we spent in forest after the forest fire broke and  could not trace our way back before dusk and meeting elephants when we decided to make a camp fire and spend there. While doing this the birds appeared twice. Much higher again than 2000mASL expectation.

5th April with Gruff Dodd saw a courtship display and good views of a pair of Red-naped Bush Shrike in Tsavo West. Freckled Nightjar at the Ngulia Sactuary. 6th April a call of Friedmann's Lark heard in Tsavo West near the Maktao Gate but could not be located, 7th of April another Black-throated Wattle-eye at Ngangao Forest Taita Hills. Thanks to Dr. Peter Lack who discovered them in Tsavo in early 1970s and who confirmed the call for me Dec. I had recorded one singing bird in Shaba National Reserve over a year ago. I could only at the time tell it was a bushlark not spp. A very unforgettable whistle-like call with a higher pitch at the middle. Though it was fortunate for me to guide the him (and the family) about the modern Kenya I learnt a great deal about the then birding and other natural history (early 1970s during the time he was doing his Phd). For instance the Lack's Party only saw a single Black Rhino (in Lake Nakuru National Park) in the entire 20 days trip we also tried one afternoon at the Rhino Sanctuary in vain while this was the most dangerous animal in Tsavo during his study years by the fact that they were numerous and also frequently encountered. This is a living testimony that the adult Lack saw and counted tens if not hundreds of Black Rhinos in 1974 and in 2009 (35yrs after) his son saw only 1. Hope the 3rd Lack will find them living and not one concrete-type put at the Nairobi National Park's main gate.

Then at Lake Naivasha on 22nd of April during the Fundamentals of Ornithology Course was one of my saddest birding moment when a single Ross's Turaco appeared at Elsamere ( i had already read of it on Karen Plumbe's email. Though fun for many attendants as the spp was a lifer to them but i could not stop figuring how the bird appeared at Elsamere and the distance from the nearest home being Mau Forest and the reason for the bird to come down from a forest that had vast food collection for them to find what the acacia tree at lake naivasha may offer. Our Kenyan politician dishing out the Mau forest need to have birdwatch'ed this stranded turaco and know and see fate they are putting to their pple as well as birds not forgetting a skink and the slow chameleon that could not fly to Lake Naivasha.

The other sad story is the diminishing lake. I have NEVER in my shortest life ever seen papyrus growing on a terrestrial land and 70 m away from the water. What's the future of that papyrus? i still can't tell and how about the bitterns, sedge and reed warblers lives in them? and pple.

many thanks for now and good birding
     chege