Dear All,

On 28th June I went through the Main Gate of Nairobi National Park at
6:30am, and stayed until 11:00am. The morning was very beautiful, a
real fiery dawn gave promise of a clear warm day, but although there
was quite a bit of sunshine, it never really warmed up and the air had
a chill all morning.
The birds were much "as you were" with no notable arrivals, and a
considerable exodus of the grassland species.
There was nothing of note along the entrance, Ivory Burning Site, or
the back of Hyena Dam, until reaching the dam itself where there was
the Madagascar Pond Heron, this individual which has been present for
nearly two months certainly does the rounds of the dams.  Along the
run-off was a female Saddle-billed Stork, and at the final patch of
bulrushes along the creek there were a couple of Red-chested
Flufftails calling with a third bird answering from across the swampy
depression. There were also a couple of African Water Rail calling
here. In the grasslands were up to forty Yellow-crowned Bishop and
several Rosy-breasted Longclaws and White-tailed Larks. The female
Whinchat found last week, was still in the same area and feeding
actively, certainly bearing no resemblance to a sick individual. There
were no Jackson's Widowbirds to be seen, in fact the only bird seen
all morning was near Kingfisher Picnic Site. White-winged Widowbird
numbers also seemed down but there were still plenty. There were a few
Zebra Waxbills but Quailfinch were in large numbers, and the commonest
species encountered. There was an individual Banded Martin picking up
nesting material, although the other twenty or so showed no such
interest, and although this species seems to be be present all year, I
have never seen a nest in this Park. The only other itinerent here
were four Wattled Starlings.