On the 1st June Jeffrey James and myself met up at Nigel Hunters house, before departing at about 2.00pm for the Thika area. The new road seemed to have us in the region in no time, and we first had a look along the Karamaini Road. The hoped for inundations in the vleis were dashed, and the place was not flooded as hoped, so little chance of any flufftails. We had a walk around the damp grassland failing to locate any Blue Quail, which must surely be there, or Black-rumped Buttonquail which we hope are there! There was little in the grass, good numbers of Red-collared Widowbirds and a few Cardinal Queleas. A Black-chested Snake-Eagle was perched on a pylon, but anthing of interest was along the railway track.
Here we flushed a female Plain Nightjar, not once but five times and had very good views, but it would always land in thick grass at the bases of dense scrub and we could not find it before it flushed again, but it kept to the same area. This individual was a most attractive bird being a golden-orange, with pale buffy wing spots but nothing on the finely barred tail which was as orange as the rest of the bird. We also flushed a male Slender-tailed Nightjar here which seemed so small by comparison. 
I would not have expected a Plain Nightjar in southern Kenya in early June, and this came as a surprise. It is also the most orange individual I have ever seen, but the colour phase is well illustrated in the field-guides, even though most of our birds are brownish-grey. There are allegedly breeding records for Kenya, but the usual status is as a passage migrant and non-breeding visitor October to April, nesting in the sub-sahel. Various publications give the NW, Elgon, Eldama Ravine as part of the breeding range. It would be interesting to listen at dusk to see or listen for Plain Nightjar (a slightly higher version of the Dusky Nightjar churring), as it is not inconceivable that this female was near a nest that it did not want to desert. The bird was about 500m along the railway line that divides the grassy vlei from some rich looking scrubland. As we were leaving here in the evening a Black-crowned Tchagra was calling, a species that just does not make Nairobi or even more strangely Magadi Road. 
After a comfortable and quiet night at the Blue Posts, we looked at the nearby Kari Research station. Apart from the usual residents, Brown-backed Scrub-Robins were several and conspicuous, a surprise was a Northern Brownbul which I have never seen there before or anywhere else closer to Thika than the Tana Bridge. There is no mention of its occurrence at Thika in Britton or Lewis & Pomeroy. The grassland was teeming with seed-eating species, but sadly no sign of the Orange-winged Pytilias, the reason we were there. There were so many Red-collared and White-winged Widowbirds and numerous Cardinal Queleas. The major surprise was an adult male Fire-fronted Bishop, which is so bizarre in such highland lush habitat. A check of Britton and Lewis & Pomeroy also show no records from the Thika area. The only unusual occurrence I have been able to locate, is a male at Naivasha along time ago. Otherwise the closest would be Magadi Road and lower edge of Meru and Tsavo East. I have seen Fire-fronted Bishop at this elevation before, and that was a displaying male at Arusha Airport some years ago. Other species at Kari included a couple of Golden-winged Sunbirds and a few African Golden Weavers.