THIKA SETTLING PONDS AND K.A.R.I. PLANTATION, THIKA 19th January 2013

Dear All,
Nigel Hunter and myself left Karen at just after 7.00am taking the
route through Kikuyu, the by pass to Ruiru and on to Thika Settling
Ponds. It took 75 minutes with no traffic that held us up anywhere. On
the vlei before the ponds were many Yellow-crowned Bishops scattered
all over the inundated sedges. The ever growing rubbish pile was
attracting many Barn Swallows and Yellow Wagtails (all lutea), and one
Northern Wheatear.
The tanks themselves were rather poor in duck, we had a mere 18
Garganey, 12 Northern Pintail and 32 Northern Shoveler. There was not
one mildly interesting wader present either, but Little Stint numbers
were extraordinary. There were groups on most of the tanks, and at one
point birds panicked over one tank and I took a photo of the flock
which we estimated 4-500, to count them at leisure. I have attached
the image, and have counted 996 in this one flock, which has but a
handful of Ruff and Wood Sandpipers being nearly all stints. There
were in all likelihood 1200-1500 present. Other waders were about 100
each of Wood Sandpipers and Ruff, thirty Marsh Sandpipers, three
Greenshank and fifteen Common Sandpipers. Just a dozen Ringed Plover
and that was it for the palearctics.
We had three Sedge and one Eurasian Reed Warbler, and just one Willow
Warbler around the perimeter, which is not very good. There were many
Barn Swallows and lutea Yellow Wagtails, but only two flava, A party
of thirty White-winged Black Terns were in the area, and two Whiskered
Terns were also present bu completely disassociated themselves.