Watamu is a alive with Eurasian Golden Orioles right now. It is common 
to see 4 or 5 in one field of view and yesterday there must have been at 
least 20 flitting around in front of our house in the company of 
Black-bellied Starlings and Lesser Masked Weavers. This is a common 
sight in the northward migration in March but I don't recall seeing them 
quite so obviously and in such numbers at this time of the year.

Very few Barn Swallows as yet - no real movements overhead which is 
interesting given that they are being seen commonly elsewhere inland.

A wader ringing night last weekend produced 182 birds on Mida Creek 
including a Curlew Sandpiper ringed in 2002 and still going strong. No 
surprises in terms of species though it was nice to catch a couple of 
Whimbrel.

Bat Hawks are still regular at 6:30pm over our house as well, the terns 
on Whale Island have now left and Mottled Spinetail has been foraging 
daily over the trees at Mwamba - the A Rocha Kenya centre.

We caught my first ever retrap Spotted Ground Thrush in Gede Ruins last 
Wednesday 6th - ringed at Gede in June 2009 as an immature, now in full 
adult plumage. We also ringed a young Jameson's Firefinch which came as 
a real surprise as this is not a species which is associated with the 
coastal area, let alone coastal forest! Albert recalled having seen what 
he had thought was one of these a few years back also in Gede, but this 
is the first confirmed record of it. A Narina Trogon also added a 
further splash of colour to the ringing list and otherwise it was mostly 
Red-capped Robin Chats, again several of which were retraps from 
previous years. We recorded 9 species of raptor in the ruins over two 
days which is not bad for a 40 acre patch of forest surrounded by farmland.

Colin

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Colin Jackson
Director
A Rocha Kenya
PO Box 383,
Watamu, 80202
Kenya

Eml: colin.jackson@arocha.org
Tel: +254 (0)20 233 5865 (wireless)
      +254 (0)42 23 32023 (landline)
Cell: 0722 842366 / 0771 757746

For more information:
www.arocha.org
www.assets-kenya.org
www.tanariverdelta.org