Dear All,

Today (26th July) I went into Nairobi National Park, passing through
Main Gate shortly after 6.30 am. There was little along the entrance
road, apart from three Yellow-bellied Waxbills which might be cold
season visitors. Ivory Burning Site produced little although there
were an adult and an immature Purple Heron circling over adjacent
Nagalomon Dam.

Nothing of note was noted along the back road, and Hyena Dam had one
Yellow-billed Egret, a noisy African Water Rail, the usual African
Jacana, and forty non-breeding Yellow-crowned Bishops in the reeds. Of
interest was a Lilac-breasted Roller flying over towards "Splash," and
of equal interest were two more individuals in trees near the dam.
This species is an irregular and uncommon visitor to the Park, some
six weeks ago when I recorded them in two different areas, it was a
personal record number. The record became far more interesting when I
drove from Hyena across to Kingfisher Picnic Site, passing a
staggering nineteen well scattered individuals. This is an invasion of
the species into the Park, and over the entire park area many hundreds
of individuals are probably involved. I checked all that I saw and
every one was nominate, so no incursion of lorti from the far north. I
have never heard of a mass movement of this species before, but of
course where it is common, nineteen would not seem remarkable. It will
be interesting to see if there are any recent or future records from
suburban gardens, other unusual locations or unusual numbers from
elsewhere to see just how extensive this movement is.

I followed the stream from Hyena, there was a Great Egret, and the
first (I am sure returning) Green Sandpiper. The female Whinchat was
still haunting the same patch of scrub as it has the past few weeks,
and there was a Buttonquail calling only 100 metres from where one was
flushed a few weeks ago, this was the first time I had ever heard this
species in the Park. One White-tailed Lark was flushed, but now all
vocal activity has ceased and they have become recluse, and four
Rosy-breasted Longclaws showed no colour. The swampy basin has become
such a magnet for seedeaters. Huge numbers of birds were congregating
to feed. The euplectes have lost all their colour, numbers of
White-winged Widowbirds were in with good numbers with equally dull
Jackson's Widowbirds. Yellow-crowned Bishops were in parties of twenty
to fifty all over the area, and flocks were constantly coming in from
farther south until there could have been a thousand present.
Extremely few were showing any signs of breeding colours, some still
had yellow on the rumps and only one bird was in adult dress. They
were flying like flocks of Quelea, and an occassional group had a
single Red-billed Quelea in with them, and a few of these were in
nuptial colours. Quailfinch were in large numbers, little groups were
flying over all the time and dropping into the basin, possibly just to
drink. Zebra Waxbills were scattered  amongst the feeding masses. From
here all the way to Kingfisher there was nothing else of note apart
from the aforementioned rollers, but having past Olmanyi Dam, there is
a couple of trees (Acacia gerardii) to the right in a shallow valley.
There are a pair of White-backed Vultures nesting in the tree, and one
of the couple has a yellow wing-tag. The unfortunate thing is, is that
the disc is under the wing, and no details could be discerned. Perhaps
someone else will have better luck reading the number, then advise
Munir. Driving through Kisembe Forest there was a noisy White-starred
Robin in a gulley, not very frequently reported in Nairobi Park of
recent years though undoubtedly still resident. Forest edge dam still
hosts the Madagascar Pond Heron, and the African Jacana is also still
there. There were numbers of Mottled Swifts flying low over the
forest. I exited through Langata Gate shortly after 1.00 pm.

There were fairly good numbers of plains game around Hyena Dam, and
Kingfisher area. From the mid-week shower there was still a little
surface water about. The morning was cold, and it was not until
mid-day that the place started to warm up.

Best to all

Brian