On 14th March 2010, Nigel Hunter, Fleur Ng'Weno, Karen Plumbe and
myself visited Endashant, to see if there had been any arrival of
crakes and bitterns, and to see the extent of the flooding in the
area.
We met at Nigels house at 7-00am and were descending into the rift on
the western side of Ngong town, in no time. On the way we looked at
the birds on the descent road. The most interesting were a pair of
White-headed Barbets feeding in a Rock Fig, not the attractive race
senex that we are familiar with in Nairobi, but of the dark-bellied,
white-spotted dark-backed, smaller billed race albicauda.  They called
from the tree, and do sound different from our usual senex. The
difference in the calls of the two forms is also detailed in
Zimmermann and Turner. It seems extraordinary that two marked races of
White-headed Barbet should be living together almost alongside each
other, and I would be surprised if senex is not also on these slopes.
On checking the distribution of albicauda, I found the following….  In
Z&T the distribution of senex is stated as "… in highlands mainly east
of Rift Valley, south to Chyulu Hills," albicauda is given as "…. From
Mara GR south into Tanzania east to Taveta and Taita. It does state
that there is an intergrade, and it would be of interest to follow up
and see if museum specimens do in fact show a cline. Although well
north of this distribution I have seen several birds in Nakuru NP
(photographed).
The nominate has a very limited distribution in Kenya from Ruma NP, to
Elgon and Kongelai.
S&F is less detailed, maintaining senex in central Kenya, and
albicauda in southern Kenya.
The Handbook gives senex "central Kenya highlands and SE Kenya,
intergrading with albicauda along the Kenya-Tanzania border."  Whilst
albicauda "SW Kenya (Koru, S Nyanza, S Ewaso Nyiro), S Kenya along
Tanzanian border."
Finally on checking Lewis and Pomeroy "A Bird Atlas of Kenya," there
was no acknowledgement of the existence of any races, and the
treatment is blanket for the species. Nevertheless there are some
interesting observations in the treatment of the species. A look at
the map shows a continuous range of nominate south to albicauda in
extreme SW Kenya, but no records west of the Mara towards Lake
Victoria. Equally east of the Rift, the range of senex is continuous
with albicauda. The map shows no White-headed barbet records directly
west of Nairobi until west of the Rift, and there is a record stated
for Nakuru which is given as the only record in a period of 26 years
of observation.
This form is present and probably resident in sheltered valleys near
Emerit (west of Olorgessailie), where I have found it on many
occasions.
It would seem that either albicauda is spreading, or that no attention
has been given to the distribution of the races, and it extends much
further inside Kenya along the Rift, than all of these authors
suggest.
There is obviously a story here, and we should record the races of all
White-headed Barbets that we see, apart from senex around Nairobi,
also if there is any indication of a mixing of the forms, especially
in the vicinity of senex. Then where in the west, do the black tailed
nominate birds stated as occurring as far as Ruma NP, suddenly become
the all white tailed albicauda common in the northern Mara. Where are
the stripy tails that show a hybrid zone, or in the case of
senex/albicauda the birds that will appear to have soiled underparts
showing a hybridisation of the pure white bellied senex and the
blackish bellied albicauda? Are these birds, or at least senex, a
little more than just races?
There are fairly distinctive races outside of Kenya, but apart from a
less distinctive lynesi in central Tanzania, there is no overlap in
the races, this being unique to Kenya.

Other interesting species were a couple of Wahlberg's Honeybirds, many
Blackaps, at least five Schalow's Wheatears, a pair of Cliff Chats,
and several Lynes's Cisticolas.
We carried on into the Rift, there were a number of Northern Wheatears
and a Eurasian Rock-Thrush, and soon were at Endashant. There was a
huge amount of water in the seasonal lake, and an extensive swamp on
the ridge above it. In the swamp we found an a small assortment of
waders consisting of many Black-winged Stilts, Wood, Green and Marsh
Sandpipers, and a few Ruffs. Also six Glossy Ibis and a few Red-billed
and Hottentot Teal. There were a few lutea Yellow Wagtails around the
livestock. Also a Western Marsh Harrier causing a little local
disruption.
With great expectations for the seasonal lake, we were to be
disappointed. The only rails encountered were ten Coot and a Common
Moorhen, otherwise there were four Little Grebe and a Whiskered Tern.
The edge had not one wader, the only ducks were three Yellow-billed
and two Red-billed Teal. Nigel bravely wandered out into the
waist-deep water and through the water grass, but disturbed nothing at
all. It was as if the lake was completely sterile. Whilst
disappointing, it was interesting in that although we had recent heavy
rain, bringing about seasonal wetlands a few months earlier than
usual, none of the swamp birds Bitterns, Rails and Crakes, Ducks,
Grebes and Terns had come in to take advantage of the conditions. We
tried to theorise why we were not seeing any Dwarf Bitterns or Lesser
Moorhens which at least in May are quick to take advantage of these
temporary conditions. Much of the literature gives these birds as
nomads and rains visitors, that move in when somehow they sense that
rain has fallen. Now here in March the rain has fallen, and the birds
have not followed. Does this suggest that the birds are not so much
nomads and rains visitors, as migrants that annually come up and
coinciding with the rains, if we have any. If there are no birds is it
that they are still somewhere else and haven't contemplated a move
this early in the season. It will be interesting to see if they do
make an appearance in June/July when they would be expecting to find
suitable conditions. Is this why we have had so much local breeding,
but hardly any cuckoos because they are used to finding birds breeding
in June, and will they appear as normal in June, why we have hectare
upon hectare of seeding grasses and no Harlequin Quails, for the same
reason. Will the quail make there normal mid April/early May
appearance when they expect to find ideal habitat?
Then we come to the complete absence of waders from the lake edge
which to the mortal eye looks suitable. Not only waders but no
wagtails or any other small birds. The local people stated that the
water started to collect just before Xmas, but it is only within the
last month that the lake has attained its current size. Is it sterile
at present, having been a dust-bowl for the past three years and will
it be a while before aquatic animals are present in such numbers as to
make it attractive?
All in all the negative findings, whilst disappointing for us are
potentially more of interest scientifically.
We had lunch under a tree not far from the lake, and there were a few
birds in the scrub. Even well away from the Ngongs, there are Lynes's
Cisticolas on the rock faces. A barbet came into view in an acacia,
and preened for a while in the sun. I was very surprised to see that
the bird was not a d'Arnaud's as expected, but an Usambiro. I have
taken a photograph of the bird and it clearly shows, the robustness,
all blackish bill, lack of orange in the plumage and a spotted crown.
Whether the bird was a wanderer or not is not known, the distinctive
calls of Usambiro were not heard, but then neither were any d'Arnaud's
calls heard either.  When visiting the area later in the year to see
if the swamp birds have returned, there is obviously some interest in
the immediate vicinity. It would be most interesting if d'Arnaud's and
Usambiro were sympatric here.
At the top of the escarpment there is a "Nyama Choma" establishment,
nicely placed with an overview of the rift. Also has very friendly
staff and good service. We stopped for afternoon tea, and amongst the
birds in the garden are Lynes's Cisticolas and Schalow's Wheatears.
All in all, a very interesting day, even if it didn't go quite the way
intended, we ended up with more questions than answers, but the area
is an interesting one.
The local people at Endashant were complaining that some wazungus were
there a couple of weeks ago duck shooting, and they wanted to make
moves to turn the area into a nature reserve and ban shooting on their
land.
Best to all
Brian