Mombasa Bird Walk

As the rain has finally arrived at last in Mombasa (always the last in the chain for anything going on in the rest of Kenya) we decided to bird walk in the Lafarge shale quarry which although waterlogged, with the Nguuni animal park wetland on one side behind the fence, and soggy shale on the other, has a solid dry path up the middle. The small pond was very busy with Grosbeak, Golden Palm and African Golden (just a few) weavers, many building nests. Most interesting was around 4 or 5 Black Kites (being mobbed by IHCs naturally) flying around the telephone poles and seemingly trying to catch insects. Unusual to see so many at one time these days! The other nice and rarely seen bird in this area was a large group of Black and White Mannikins. Water Dikkops ran round the quarry, Diedrik Cuckoo, an unidentified shrike (either Red tailed or Red Backed) landed for a few seconds in a far off tree while lots of Ethiopian Swallows swooped overhead. The main excitement at this stage was not a bird but a really beautiful chamelion on which much time was spent. Have tried to identify it from the book withut success, basically it was all green! On the wetland were one African Spoonbill, one Purple Heron, several Grey Herons, one African Jacana, one Pink Backed Pelican, two Allen's Gallinule adult plus one juvenile, three pairs of Spur Winged Plovers, one White-faced Whistling Duck, Three Banded Plovers, Long Tailed Cormorants, Sacred Ibis, Cattle Egrets, a large group of magnificent Yellow Billed Storks, Pied and Malachite Kingfisher. Migrants - several Wood Sandpipers and a couple of Greenshanks. In the scrub on the walk back - Common Waxbillm Zanzibar Bishop and a Croaking Cisticola which we have not had on our list for ages as it is not so common here. A lovely walk and at least we kept our feet dry. Enjoy your birding. (Marlene Reid - Mombasa)