Dear All,
It was dry but overcast when I entered the Park at 6-40am. There was a
milky sun to the east, and the day looked unsettled. I went straight
to the Ivory Burning Site, and got out for a walk to see what was
about.
Almost the first bird I looked at was an adult African Hobby which
came winnowing in at speed from Nagalomon Dam, flying directly over
the Picnic area and continuing on towards the Army Barracks. This was
only the second I have seen in the Park. Also here were two
Whitethroat, a Willow Warbler and a Spotted Flycatcher, whilst a Black
Rhino was feeding out on the grass down the hill.  There was a
mini-bus with tourists, so I told them about the Rhino which had now
moved off towards Hyena Dam. This kindness was a big mistake as it
happened. I drove off along the back road seeing the first of
twenty-five Red-backed Shrikes, but little else and was followed by
the van. Whilst politely keeping back a distance, I felt pressured
with the vehicle behind me. I was passing across the culvert over the
little swamp before the turn off to Hyena Dam, when I did a double
take. Wait a minute there was never a small black rock in there
before, and so I reversed and was parked fifteen feet from a fully
exposed adult Dwarf Bittern! By now the bus was behind me, but I took
some video then pulled ahead to let it past. The vehicle looked to see
what I was looking at, I told them it was a Dwarf Bittern, I turned
round so that it would be on my side and on arrival…. It had gone! I
waited ten minutes but it never reappeared.  It's true about no good
deed should go unpunished.
There was a party of twelve Greater Blue-eared Starlings at the back
of the dam, and whilst not that noteworthy in itself, it is the
largest aggregation I have seen in the Park. The dam was quite bleak,
there was a Hippo grunting, the solitary Jacana was still there, a
Spur-winged Plover was a surprise, a nice adult Fish Eagle and the
first of some forty Barn Swallows seen today.
I did a circuit by taking the track from the dam onto the run-off,
there were some nice swampy areas with both Great and Yellow-billed
Egrets, but apart from Ibis it wasn't drawing much else. An African
Water Rail called from somewhere along the creek. Then I turned left
at the cross roads and took the circuit road back to Hyena Dam. The
grasslands here are in such good condition and obviously birds find it
much to their liking. A lone Lesser Kestrel was hovering over the
plains, and a Eurasian Hobby sat in a low thorn-tree. All three
Longclaws have territories, with two singing Pangani and half-a dozen
Rosy-breasted. There were at least five White-tailed Larks and they
were very conspicuous and noisy. I had the incredible good luck of
finding one sitting in the grass, fly onto a foot high branch and
start singing. I know in the past I have stated that the bird only
sings in flight, but this was the exception that made the rule! I was
so lucky enough to get some good video of it singing, and can now show
just how different these eastern and western birds are, they are just
not the same species. The first of over fifteen Lesser Grey Shrikes
were also here, and a Hartlaub's Bustard giving aerial display, not
usually at this end of the Park.
Failing to find the Dwarf Bittern at the swamp again I continued on to
Nagalomon Dam. There were no Long-tailed Cormorants at the old
breeding site, but it was occupied by a male Darter and a
Black-crowned Night-Heron. There was nothing at Kingfisher picnic
site, but a Brown Snake-Eagle feeding over the area, and when
returning back towards Olmanyi Dam there was a male Parasitic Weaver
on a Balanites. Every wet-season there is a male Parasitic Weaver on
this little group of trees. Olmanyi Dam was useless as normal, but a
few Nyanza Swift were drinking.
Crossing the Mokoyiet Bridge I turned right in the direction of Athi.
Along the river was another Eurasian Hobby and two beautiful Eurasian
Rollers, two Brown Parrots flew out screaming and on the plains side
was a Jacobin Cuckoo.
There was water in the Karen P-S Dam (with the palms), vultures have
returned to bathe although it was all White-backed apart from one
young Ruppell's. There was also a White Stork here. On reaching Athi
Dam, it was very disappointing, there were two Rhinos on the track,
and the game was very impressive all over the basin. Hardly any
waterbirds, four Hottentot Teal amongst the White-faced Whistling
Ducks, a sub-adult Fish Eagle, the only palearctic waders were one
each of Ruff and Little Stint, just a dozen Black-winged Stilts and
one roosting Black-crowned Night Heron.
In the plains between here and Cheetah Gate were a number of Athi
Short-toed Larks, they were widely scattered, not in the usual
concentration and were presumably nesting. Back on the road there was
an adult and a brownish Jacobin Cuckoo, and calling in on the Mbagathi
River on the Rhino Circuit was a nice mixed flock of acacia species
including five Violet Wood-Hoopoes which contained two immatures. It
looks as if breeding was successful. There was also one African
Hoopoe, a species whose visits are remarkably irregular to this Park.
I had a walk at the Hippo Pools finding two adults and a toto Hippo,
presumably the trio that were in Athi Dam early in the year. Also
there were one each of Eurasian Reed, Marsh and Sedge Warblers. On the
Mokoyiet Crossing at the base of Baboon Cliffs, there was a Verreaux's
Eagle-Owl sitting right out over the water. Although there were two
sightings on Rhino Circuit earlier this year, this was my first in the
Park for seven years. There were Madagascar Bee-eaters calling but I
could not see them.
Passing Leopard Cliffs there was a strange concentration of five
Common Cuckoos which included a very attractive hepatic rufous bird,
and another Jacobin Cuckoo.
Just before leaving the tarmac near Nagalomon Dam I flushed a male
Harlequin Quail, and there was an adult Great Cormorant on the nesting
tree. Along the edge of the forest there was a fifth Jacobin Cuckoo,
and a Nairobi Pipit. On the way out I checked the Langata Gate pond,
there was a Yellow Wagtail but although I scanned the perimeter I
could find nothing else. I was just about to leave when I noticed a
dark shape in a bunch of Polygonums, back behind and between the two
grassy island hummocks. A Dwarf Bittern was hiding in there, and this
must have been Rupert Watson's bird. It was very inconspicuous and I
am perfectly willing to accept was here all of the time I was looking
for it on Sunday. It is a very attractive individual, much more buffy
and orange than the bird in the morning, which was virtually black and
white below. It must have been here for some two weeks now. The final
observation of the day was another pair of Nairobi Pipits where the
other road from the opposite side of the dam joins up.

Another great day in paradise, and with one person finding such a
variety of late migrants in one area, must mean that large numbers of
palearctics are still moving north.


Best to all

Brian