Dear all,

On 14th May Mike Davidson, Heather Elkin, Jennifer Oduori,  Karen Plumbe and
myself spent the day in Nairobi National Park. We did not visit the forest,
or Hippo Pools, and stayed off the interior roads that were still wet and
trapping people, but still had over 150 species.

There had been some light shower overnight, but it did not make any roads
more impassable, and the water level had dropped allowing access to areas
that had been inaccessible recently.  The day started off overcast, but
became brighter later in the morning although it never became hot, and there
was a shower in the extreme north of the Park in the early evening.

We were through the gate at 6:50 am, first visiting the KWS Mess garden,
where we recorded over forty species, the more interesting being
Green-backed Honeybird, two Pale Flycatchers, Black-and-White Mannikin and
the first of five African Hoopoes which constitutes an influx into the area.
There was nothing at Ivory Burning Site, but there were three Spotted
Thick-knees on the drift near Nagalomon Dam.
The Dam itself had some fifteen Black-crowned Night-Herons but little else.
One of the Saddle-billed Storks was foraging along the back road to Hyena
Dam, and at the dam were a pair of showy African Water Rails, and single
Lesser Moorhen and Swamphen. There was a very obliging Fan-tailed Grassbird
along the concrete stretch to the Mokoyeti Bridge. In the grasslands on the
way to Eland Hollow were some five Rosy-breasted Longclaws, the dam had
nothing apart from a Hippo, and was very full. Returning to Karen Primary
School Dam the surprise of the day appeared at a distance, then proceded to
soar right over our heads, and was a very late Long-legged Buzzard, the only
palearctic seen all day. The dam was very full, and the recent flooding has
demolished the reed-bed.
In the open areas around “The Beacon,” were the first of two Lappet-faced
Vultures, an adult and immature Black-chested Snake-Eagles, several
White-tailed Larks and numerous other grassland species. Desert Cisticolas
were common all through the grasslands today, and one of the most heard
songs, in fact we had all ten Cisticola species with Red-faced along the
Mbagathi near Cheetah Gate.
Also in the grasslands we met with many cuckoos, interesting all but one
male Diederic were immature birds. Three Jacobin, two Levaillant’s, a Great
Spotted which looked like a huge Jacobin, were it not for faint speckling on
the wing, and bright chestnut primaries.
The throat and breast were white, lacking the usual yellowish wash.
Finally at least eight Diederic were seen. There was a Red-billed Teal on a
small flooding, and apart from Egyptian Geese was the only waterfowl seen in
the Park. Athi Dam was extremely full with the causeway cut off, and was
sterile as far as birdlife was concerned.
Two Spur-winged Plovers were still there, and about thirty Mottled Swift
came in to drink. We had a look at the Mbagathi near Cheetah Gate, and were
amazed to see that the inner arm of the river was dry.
The summation was that the devastating volume of water that came downriver
carried much silt, and that this was dumped in the inner arm of the river.
Then as the water subsided the silt was left behind, and was now higher than
the current level of the river leaving the channel dry. We found a few
species of acacia species including five Speckle-fronted Weavers, and nearby
a pair of displaying d’Aranaud’s Barbets. From here we left via Kingfisher
Picnic Site where there was a Lilac-breated Roller.

There was a good variety of plains game, but numbers were well down,
especially Zebra, Giraffe on the other hand were more numerous than usual,
and there were fifty in the same area along the Mbagathi River.
More interesting species were both Rhino species, two Chandler’s Reedbucks,
the first Dik-Dik I have ever seen in the Park (Cheetah
Gate) and a Lioness near Karen rimary School Dam.
 

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database 7146 (20120517) __________

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