From: Brian Finch <birdfinch@gmail.com>
Date: 2011-07-17 20:57
Subject: Fw: NAIVASHA 16th July 2011
face="Arial">----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Brian Finch <birdfinch@gmail.com>
To: Itai Shanni <itaisha1@yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, 18 July 2011, 0:39
Subject: NAIVASHA 16th July 2011
NAIVASHA 16th July 2011
Dear All,
On 16th July Nigel Hunter and myself spent a day in the Naivaisha
area. It was very cool and did not warm up until very late morning.
We started at KWS Hippo Camp where in spite of our having our pre-paid
KWS Smart Cards, the girl at the gate insisted on further proof of
identity. It seems that they don’t trust their own identification
system away from the Smart-Card zone.
The area was in beautiful condition and will be very attractive to
migrants when the numbers start to appear
in a months time. The nicest
birds present were a pair of Great Crested Grebes in fine plumage and
giving short displays of head shaking, but nothing too energetic.
Amongst the fine assortment of waterbirds was nothing to raise the
pulse-rate, but some waders had returned. There were three Ruff, three
Marsh Sandpipers of which one was in bland non-breeding dress, but two
retained the black spotting of breeding adults and had probably just
returned, likewise of two Greenshank, one was spotty and one plain,
five Wood Sandpipers were white spotted adults and recent arrivals, as
were three Common Sandpipers. However the six Black-tailed Godwits
present showed no traces of breeding colour and may never have left
the country this season. Amongst the numerous Whiskered Terns were one
White-winged Black Tern but no Gull-bills. Other birds here were a
juvenile Jacobin Cuckoo, four White-fronted Bee-eaters and
two
Grey-rumped Swallows. From here we went to Oloidien and had some
coffee at the Crater Lodge. The flamingos here were reduced to one
Greater and six Lesser. The birds in the garden were more interesting
with Schalow’s Wheatears so tame that they come into the dining room,
and African Firefinch coming to bathe at the bird bath with their
commoner relatives. The White-eyes in the area are fairly common and
all appear to be Yellow, which is not too unexpected. We were
imitating Pearl-spotted Owlets to see if any Grey-crested
Helmetshrikes were within hearing distance. We called in over thirty
species as well as two owlets, but no Helmetshrikes. We did however
call in a male Northern Puffback which is the furthest south I have
seen the species in Kenya. Interestingly not only does Britton not
mention it for northern Naivasha, but he doesn’t even recognise it
further south than Eldama Ravine, when it is so
numerous in Lake
Nakuru NP! He does however list the Yellow White-eye as occurring as
far south and east as Naivasha.
On the Small Lake Naivasha, there were lots of both Flamingos, around
two-hundred Cape Teal and seventy Southern Pochard which partly
explains their absence at Nakuru. There were five adult Common
Sandpipers and two patternless Greenshank, and two breeding plumaged
White-winged Black Terns amongst the Whiskered present.
Horus and Nyanza Swifts came down to drink in the late afternoon.
A stop in Dagoretti Market to buy Wellington boots was fortunate not
only for the successful purchase, but for finding a pair of Angola
Swallows on the buildings. A species rarely recorded near Nairobi.
After leaving Nigel I was driving down Bogani East Road in Langata,
when I came to a halt because the wire had detached itself from the
coil. Whilst I was getting myself road-worthy again in the fast fading
light,
a Bat Hawk flew over the road, then disappeared back the way it
had come!
Best to all
Brian