From: Fleur Ng'weno <fleur@africaonline.co.ke>
Date: 2010-11-27 13:49
Subject: Dakatcha Woodland near Adu/Hadu
Dakatcha Woodland near Adu/Hadu
Greetings
Last week (November 16-20) a team from Nature Kenya and A Rocha Kenya surveyed a few sites in Dakatcha Woodland Important Bird Areas northwest of Malindi. Three of the four days were spent in the Brachystegia Woodland and dry thickets a few kilometres northwest of Adu, also written Hadu. The following records refer to this site.
It had rained, Brachystegia trees had put out a flush of new leaves – pink, copper, bronze or vivid green – the other trees and bushes all seemed to be bursting into bloom, frogs chorused from the ponds, ground crickets and freshwater crabs were walking about and the birds were exuberant.
The following globally threatened birds were seen or heard:
Clarke’s Weaver, endangered: Females and immatures (or non-breeding males?) were seen twice foraging in flowering Combretum and Lannea trees in an open area. A flock of weavers seen at the same site on the third day, however, turned out to be mostly Village Weavers.
Sokoke Pipit, endangered: Heard singing as it circled over our campsite some 10 km northwest of Adu.
Southern Banded Snake Eagle and Fischer’s Turaco, near-threatened, were encountered several times. We saw a Southern Banded Snake Eagle catch a fat frog, and another one eating a snake. Martial Eagle was also seen.
The characteristic birds of the area – Black-collared Barbet, Chestnut-fronted Helmetshrikes, Eastern Nicator, Black-bellied Starling, etc. – were often seen or heard. The following records may be of interest:
GaloGalo wetland is a pond in the Brachystegia woodland, covered with blue water lilies. Among the waterbirds on the pond were 34 Knob-billed Ducks, a Saddle-billed Stork, a Woolly-necked Stork, an African Spoonbill, Great and Yellow-billed Egrets, Striated (Green-backed) Heron, Little Grebe, Wood Sandpiper and Common Greenshank. A Green Sandpiper tried its luck in the puddles on the road.
At night our campsite was serenaded by the calls of African Barred Owlet, African Wood Owl and Fiery-necked Nightjar.
Large flocks of swifts were seen among the storms. They included Little and African Palm Swifts, of course, and much larger swifts which we agreed could only be Mottled Swifts – a possible range extension?
Several Green-capped Eremomelas were seen together. (They had also been recorded on my visit in November 2009.) These Eremomelas looked like the ones in Nairobi and Thika, with contrasting yellow breast and white belly, not like the coastal race.
Village Weavers were the commonest weavers, nesting in homesteads and school compounds. Red-headed Weavers were also seen: a pair was building in one homestead, and two more pairs were building together with Village Weavers in another homestead. Red-headed Weavers had been recorded from Dakatcha before and appear in the Dakatcha checklist, but on checking the books, it seems that it might be a range extension.
If you wish to visit Dakatcha Woodland, it’s best to go with a local guide; this can be arranged in advance through the Nature Kenya office in Nairobi <office@naturekenya.org> or in Gede <nkcoast@naturekenya.org> or in Marafa <monitoring@naturekenya.org>
Wishing you good birding, Fleur