The 18th FoO Course finished last Friday at Elsamere, Naivasha with a larger than normal but enthusiastic group of 24 participants. This year we had plenty of rain and as a result brought in a good number of birds sometimes not recorded on the course. Also lake levels were the highest I've seen them in years.

The course is jointly organised & run by A Rocha Kenya, Ornithology Section of NMK, Tropical Biology Association & NatureKenya and is designed for anyone interested in learning more about birds, their basic biology and how to identify them. Most of the participants are in the tourism industry.

Birds of note included:
10-15 Black-necked Grebes on Oloidien with Little Grebe.
Purple Heron - at least 4 at Crayfish Camp
Little Bittern - 1 at Crayfish camp watched gulping down a large frog
Black-crowned Night Heron - 1 over Elsamere 19th (possibly the 1st we've seen at Elsamere on the course)
Tens of thousands of Lesser Famingo on Oloidien together with c. 2-300 Fulvous & 50-100 White-faced Whistlers.
Ruppell's Griffon Vulture - none seen on main wall in Hell's Gate, just 31 on main Vulture Wall with only 7 possibly incubating. 4 vultures over Naivasha town midday 17th headin north were probably these.
Eurasian Hobby - 1 seen over road near Naivasha on 12th, 6 in Hell's Gate with many storms around (15th), 1 over Elsamere 20th - all moving rapidy north.
Over 100 Ruff along shoreline of public access site on Oloidien witha few scattered Wood Sand but no other waders. 
Common Snipe - 1 at Crayfish Camp
Grey-headed Gull - common but in particular a flock of about 50 watched circling a 800m+ high and rising under a huge cloud on 19th was an interesting observation
2 juv Lesser Black-backed Gulls over the lake by Elsamere on 20th
Eurasian / Common Cuckoo - 1st one seen 18th after night of heavy rain. 19th after more heavy rain 6-7 seen just around Elsamere grounds & 3-4 on 20th
Bar-tailed Trogon - one eventually gave reasonable views to some participants in Kieni, 17th
Giant Kingfisher - seen several times during the week at Elsamere and also 1 at Crayfish Camp on 16th
Wahlberg's Honeybird - recorded both at Elsamere and Crayfish Camp where it was right adjacent to the papyrus.
Sharpe's Longclaw - four birds seen on grassland by road en route to Kieni not far from 'Flyover' - but their habitat is seriously reduced and we watched two men digging up the grassland to plant 'chips' (potatoes) with a longclaw in the grass just 10m ahead of them.
Garden Warbler - 2 on 13th at Elsamere
Eurasian Reed Warbler - 1 on 14th and another ringed on 15th
Willow Warbler - common particularly at start of week when there were 2-3 in a tree at a time. On 21st only 2 seen in whole hour of birding
Little Rock Thrush - a male singing extensively from tree top on several mornings
Grey-backed Fiscal - used to be extremely common and apparent around Elsamere but not recorded on the course for several years. 2 were seen in adjacent property to the west on two morning.
Red-winged Starling - again used to be common around Elsamere and resident - only recorded on the last morning very briefly

Overall another excellent course and thanks to all those who participated and contributed.