Nigel Hunter, Ben Mugambi, Joseph Kariuki and myself, went up to
Kapedo for the weekend 10th-12th July, basing ourselves in the
comforts of Lake Baringo Club.
Sitting by the lake on the evening of the 10th, a Common Sandpiper
flew by. This is usually the first date that I see the return of this
species, but I have never seen a Kenyan Common Sandpiper in June, so
these early July birds are almost certainly returning migrants. In a
weeks time we should be seeing the first Wood Sandpiper. There were
also about fifteen Barn Swallows flying around, and all were adults.
The appearance of this species in large numbers around the Lake
Victoria basin and smaller numbers on the Rift Valley Lakes is an
annual event, it would be very interesting to learn of their
provenance. Other migrants consisted of numerous Madagascar Bee-eaters
throughout the lake basin, and scatterings of White-throated
Bee-eaters. The African Scops Owl is still in the club grounds.
Weavers were in breeding plumage, and a pair of Jackson's Hornbills
were demolishing windscreen wipers on a vehicle in the car-park! The
level of the lake has fallen over the past month, and the Prosopis
forest is disappearing remarkably quickly. There is no aquatic
vegetation either growing or floating and so the lake is not
attractive to birds at present.
On the 11th we took two policemen from the station at Loruk as
security for our expedition to Kapedo, but everything was calm and we
gave them a nice day out but their services were never required. The
people at Kapedo were very welcoming.
Our aim was to confirm the continued presence of the beautiful and
isolated Somali Sparrows. After a while we found a pair coming in to
an enclosure that was attracting numerous House Sparrows as they came
down for the chicken feed. There were some four Somali Fiscals in the
area and a few Shining Sunbirds. Ethiopian Swallows had bred and the
progeny were sitting on wires.
Crested Larks which are usually right around the town sheltering from
the heat in the shadows of rocks or posts, were just not to be seen.
We walked the grassland, finding about a dozen Singing, and several
gatherings of Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-Larks, but it was a while
before we finally located some four Crested Larks along a ridge. I
wonder if there is some local movement into this area, because this is
a very isolated population and has been assumed to be permanently
resident.
On the morning of the 12th we had a look around the irrigation areas
at Marigat, to see if we could relocate the Northern Red Bishops that
have deserted the lake area because of lack of aquatic grasses and
sedges. We were fortunate in locating four birds in maize fields, but
our search was cursory. Equally of interest was the presence of
Northern Masked Weavers in the maize including a male nest building on
a stalk. There is great potential for interesting birding amongst
these fields of maize and maze of canals. It must be most attractive
to migrants in season. There was a single Common Fiscal present, which
is unusual in the Baringo area, although the lush habitat looks
perfect for them.

Two Ratels were seen in Nairobi National Park on the game count a few weeks ago.

On Thursday 9th July, I took Steve Spawls up to the bluff above the Ol
Kejo River just off the Ngongs on the Magadi Road, to look for the
skink that lives there, that I believed was undescribed. I wrote about
this animal in Swara a few years ago, but there had not been any
herpetologist that had seen it. We located some five individuals,
Steve obtained some photos but failed to capture any. He is sure that
this reptile is new to science, and will organise follow up. It was so
dry, no birds of any interest were recorded on the hike.

Best to all

Brian