NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 17th September 2012
Dear All,
Mike Davidson, Fleur Ng’Weno, Jennifer Oduoro, Karen Plumbe and myself
met at the Main Entrance at 6.30am. It was an overcast and gloomy cool
day, but brightened up late morning and became sunny. We were only
there for the morning, leaving at 1.30pm.
There was little happening in the gloom at KWS Mess gardens, or Ivory
Burning Site. The latter had three Violet-backed Starlings. Also
nothing much on the back road to Hyena Dam apart from a Green
Sandpiper, and at the dam several African Water Rails were calling,
and there were four Wood Sandpipers. Seven Hippos were clustered in
the water. On the run-off was a confiding Northern Wheatear, our first
for the season, and in spite of the early date, the bird appeared to
be an immature. There were also six Orange-breasted Waxbills here. At
Karen PC Dam was a Madagascar Pond Heron. NNP which has always been a
good location for the species, had so far this year failed to produce
a single bird. Whether this was due to there being so much habitat for
the species outside of the Park, or whether it is due to the alarming
decrease in the world population cannot be determined. Along the
Mokoyeti there was a pair of adult Martial Eagles at their nest,
though no sign of the young birds. Also near the Beacon there were six
Somali Short-toed Larks flying around, and above Athi Basin there was
a single Green Sandpiper, a pair of Crowned Cranes with two well grown
young, a pair of Secretarybirds at a nest, some forty loafing vultures
which included single Ruppell’s and Lappet-faced, a couple of
Shelley’s Francolin, and a couple of Rosy-breasted Longclaws. There
was also a group of fourteen Eurasian Bee-eaters that could not fly
south fast enough and carried on into the distance. Athi Dam produced
an immature Fish Eagle, two Black-crowned Night=Herons, three
Spur-winged Plover, and about thirty-five Kittlitz’s Plover, migrants
were seven Little Stints, a Common Greenshank and two Common
Sandpipers. There were small numbers of Barn Swallows moving
southwards. Common Quailfinch, that had been seen all through the
grassland in small parties, had now become abundant and were drinking
and perching openly. There were some thousand birds, along the edge of
Athi Dam we could see up to a hundred birds together drinking, whilst
even more were visible in the air at one time as we drove alongside
the grass. They have come in in unprecedented numbers, and we even had
an albino example!
Mammals were coming back into the Park, Zebra and Eland were in
numbers, less usual were a pair of Orbi near Hyena run-off and two
male Lions on top of the Athi Basin.
A very pleasant morning, nothing too ourageous but plenty to see.
Best to all
Brian