----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Brian Finch <birdfinch@gmail.com>
To: Itai Shanni <itaisha1@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thu, 31 March, 2011 18:50:56
Subject: NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 22nd December 2010

Another late one!


NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 22nd December 2010


On 22nd December, I took David Sibley into Nairobi National Park for
the whole day. At least he is benefiting from his marooning here.
We arrived at Main Gate at 6.30am, and made our first call at the
Ivory Burning Site. There was a female Pied Wheatear (first of eight),
one of only two Spotted Flycatchers, the first of only eight Willow
Warblers, and a few Nightingales grumbled from the bushes. There were
some noisy Shelley’s Francolins calling persistently as was a Zanzibar
Sombre Greenbul somewhere behind Nagalomon Dam, but other than that
there was nothing else to report from here.  Because of the pipeline
closing off the road to the back of Hyena Dam entirely, we went past
Nagalomon Dam, where there was a smart male Darter, and two Common
Snipe. Then following the eastern roads through the forest along the
Mokoyiet River we had a stunning pair of very tame adult Black Storks,
the Bateleur was at its nest site, there were a couple of Common
Buzzards, and drinking by the river several Yellow-bellied Waxbills
and a single Black-and-White Mannikin. A party of scrub and forest
species contained a Brown-backed Woodpecker. Not a lot was happening
at the “drinking pond” but there were a couple of Blackcaps, and a
Booted Eagle flew over. The nearby dam had the only Little Grebe of
the day and a pair of Yellow-billed Duck. We skirted past the road to
the Langata Entrance and worked the edge of the forest to find
Hartlaub’s Turacos, which appeared only after a good search. There was
a Nairobi Pipit on a cairn, but little else as we passed through the
forest. On the way to Kingfisher we had a very obliging African Water
Rail. The grasslands held many Red-collared Widowbirds, males with
long tails but rather patchy plumage. There was a single male
Jackson’s singing at the swamp that was in full breeding plumage.
Kingfisher Picnic Site was quiet were it not for Striped Kingfishers
feeding noisy young in the nest, and mating White Rhinos. The only
migrant was the only Olivaceous Warbler for the day. The rough ground
along the road towards the Kisembe Bridge had the first of fifteen
Northern and first of twenty-five Isabelline Wheatears, there was also
a male Red-backed Shrike and the first of five Red-tailed Shrike, with
all being isabellinus, contrary to phoenicuroides being by far the
most abundant at Ngulia. There was little of interest all the way to
Olmanyi Dam and on to the Mokoyiet River. Here we had the first of
seven Whinchats for the day.  On passing Nagalomon Dam again, there
was a most attractive Swamphen feeding in the shallows. Hyena Dam was
not productive apart from six Crowned Cranes, and it was also very
quiet on the run-off where there was a Saddle-billed Stork, and a
single Yellow-billed Egret. On the internal road to Karen Primary
School Dam there was a solitary Athi Short-toed Lark, and four
White-tailed Larks. Taking the “Beacon” road to Empakasi Dam we found
two Common Snipe, a Little Stint and a single Namaqua Dove (and
another in Athi Basin) but there were over fifty Quail-Finch drinking.
On the way to Athi Basin there was a Steppe Eagle and the only
Rosy-breasted Longclaw of the day. Athi Dam was most impressive though
bizarrely lacking in Palearctic waders. Amongst the five hundred or so
Marabou, were fifty Abdim’s, three White and a single Yellow-billed
Stork, our sixth species of stork for the day. Amongst the several
hundred Sacred was a single Glossy Ibis and three African Spoonbills.
Ducks were poor with fifteen White-faced and three Red-billed Teal
apart from Egyptian Geese with two fresh broods.  Afrotropical waders
included two Spur-winged Plover, only two Kittlitz’s Plovers, and two
Black-winged Stilt, migrants were limited to twelve Little Stint, a
Ruff, three Greenshank, and a couple each of Wood and Common
Sandpipers. Other birds were a single Speckled Pigeon, and an equally
solitary Red-throated Pipit. Not far from the corner of the Causeway
was a Temminck’s Courser. At Cheetah Gate there was an African Hoopoe,
one d’Arnaud’s Barbet, the only Eurasian Rock-Thrush of the day, a few
Lesser Masked Weavers and a Crimson-rumped Waxbills.
A walk at Hippo Pools was quiet with one Eurasian Reed Warbler and two
Wattled Starlings. Heading back via Leopard Cliffs we found a Common
Kestrel, the only falcon all day, a Black-shouldered Kite, a House
Martin and one Eurasian Roller.
We were through Langata Gate shortly after 6.30pm.
It seemed a fairly quiet day, very disappointing for palearctics,
nevertheless we recorded over two-hundred species. Green Sandpipers
were on most of the larger and some very small bodies of water, Barn
Swallows were not very numerous and there was no indication of
passage. The absence of all three migrant Harriers was a shock, but
perhaps the most alarming is the lack of migrant falcons, where on
earth are the Lesser Kestrels?
Mammals were in very impressive numbers in Athi Basin, but a good
scattering elsewhere. We saw six White Rhinoceros together at
Kingfisher Picnic Site, and three separate Suni sightings in the
forest.
The day started off dry and continued in the same vain all day, the
afternoon around Hippo Pools was warm.
It was a very nice day, and whilst long stretches of grassland seem
birdless, the other habitats are full of niceties.

Best for now
Brian