Dear All.
I met Patrick Lhoir at the Main Entrance to Nairobi National Park at
6.30am on 11th April 2010. The weather had continued dry, although it
was a cloudy start it turned sunny and very hot. A thermometer gave a
reading at Rhino Circuit in the Athi Basin showed 39oC. With warm
temperatures like this it should mean that there would be more rain
soon.
On the way to Ivory Burning Site we had some five Garden Warblers
attracted to a fruiting shrub and thought that this was a good sign of
a fall, how wrong we were. At the Site was one Spotted Flycatcher
(only three others seen today), and that was it. Along the back road
were the first of three Red-tailed Shrikes, and first of twenty
Red-backed Shrikes. The African Water Rail was noisy at the small
swamp, and there was nothing at all at Hyena Dam. On the run-off were
several Rosy-breasted Longclaws (probably as many as twenty see today)
and a couple of Zebra Waxbill.
Along the inside road to Karen Primary School Dam the grassland was
alive with larks which included several White-tailed, Cisticolas with
many Desert amongst the abundant Pectoral-patch and pipits.  There was
a territorial male Yellow-crowned Bishop at the dam, seeing off all
comers, and Yellow-crowned Bishops were on territories at two other
dams. Along the grasslands we found seven adult Kori Bustards, one
female with the chick, and the first of a paltry three Lesser Grey
Shrikes. Along the high road to Athi Dam we stopped to look at a
Red-backed Shrike, and a breeding plumage Black Coucal jumped up and
sat on a low shrub for some time. This was a surprise although not new
for the Park, as there was one seen seven months apart a couple of
years ago. Nevertheless a very good find. There were also two Eurasian
Rollers here. Athi Dam is yet higher, now down to two Black-winged
Stilt, four Spur-winged Plover, two Little Stints and a Greenshank.
There was a party of Mottled Swifts drinking. The grasslands had a
scattering of noisy Athi Short-toed and White-tailed Larks. Also there
were two individual adult Temminck's Coursers. The Lesser Masked
Weavers were busy at their nest on the causeway. The pair of Lanners
were on the "Orange" Tower and look very comfortable there, there was
a Namaqua Dove, and an Olivaceous Warbler was singing from cover. At
Rhino Circuit a Pygmy Kingfisher was showing interest in the riverbank
but no sign of a second bird. No at lot of interest in the bird line
at Hippo Pools, a pair of adult Violet Wood Hoopoes were foraging
openly on dead timber, otherwise the now usual Red-faced Cisticola,
eight Speckle-fronted Weavers and two male Village Indigobirds. (These
are the only birds that occur in the Park, which is quite mysterious
as Red-billed Firefinches are throughout). The only migrant were a
Spotted Flycatcher and the only Willow Warbler of the day.
The best find here was not a bird but a butterfly, there was a fresh
male Golden Tip (Colotis hidebrandti) sitting on the path with wings
open, until a camera materialised and from there it shut tight until
it flew off. I have not heard of any records from the Nairobi district
before, Larsen giving the distribution as Tsavo, Embu and Voi. So the
record is quite remarkable and the butterfly being fresh was stunning,
making the numerous Scarlet Tips pale by comparison! For those with an
interest in butterflies, two other dry-country species are present.
There are several Acacia mellifera with territorial male Kirk's
(Black) Charaxes (Charaxes kirkii), and one flowering bush had a
number of Sulphur Orange-Tips (Colotis eucharis). Both common enough
at lower altitudes on the Magadi Road. There is potential for a very
interesting year for butterflies. From last Wednesday I forgot to
mention that there was a large Yellow-throated Plated Lizard near
Leopard Cliffs.