MANGUO POND – LIMURU, HIPPO CAMP AND OLOIDIEN – NAIVASHA 27th January 2013.

Dear All,
Simon Ball, Mike Davidson, Nigel Hunter and myself went up to Manguo
Pond arriving at around 8.15am. It was a beautiful morning and the
visibility from the high bank on the Limuru Road was nothing short of
spectacular. We scanned the lake with telescopes from this lookout,
and found five White-backed Duck pairs with broods averaging six each,
plus many more White-backs that were without families, really nice
were three male Maccoa Ducks, only one female seen so hopefully there
are females brooding in the dense sedges. There were good numbers of
Fulvous Whistling Ducks, Southern Pochards and the more usual
Red-bills, Hottentots, Yellow-bills and White-faced Whistling Ducks.
The only palearctics we could see were three Northern Shovelers. We
had been standing and scanning for over an hour in this fantastic
visibility when the drake Ferruginous suddenly and magically appeared
out on the open water. Last November it was a rather grotty moulting
male, but now it is a stunning adult drake and positively glows. After
some five minutes of parading it swam rapidly to the back of the
island where it had obviously been hiding, not to reappear. There were
two Whiskered Terns in strange blotchy plumage that certainly looked
bred here, and some thirty adults present, just one White-winged Black
Tern but two adult Grey-headed Gulls were a surprise here. The species
seems to avoid smaller water bodies entirely. There was nothing else
of note, and so we continued on to Naivasha and Hippo Camp. As
ridiculous as it sounds, and in spite of no recent heavy falls of
rain, the water appeared yet higher than three weeks ago. It may be an
illusion that as all of the inundated bushes die, that the water
appears more open. We took a boat trip whilst here, they are
Ksh4000/hour, and it seems to be the standard price on the lake now.
It was worth this however, as there is much to see around the edges of
the lake, that are inaccessible from the dry land. There were four
Black-headed Gulls, three of which were first winter, and one adult, a
few Whiskered but many White-winged Black Terns, waders abysmal as
nowhere for them to land, three Common Snipe in the water hyacinth,
five Garganey and four Northern Shoveler and a sudden upsurge in
Squacco Heron numbers. Barely more than eight Yellow Wagtails but a
major increase in Willow Warblers, One Garden Warbler, an Upcher’s
Warbler in the bush, but the most interesting species present were a
pair of White-headed Saw-wings, remaining in one wooded area. I have
never seen the species in the Naivasha area before. The only migrant
raptor was a single Western Marsh Harrier.
We went around to Oloidien and took an hours boat trip there for the
same price. The potential here for something special turning up is as
good as Hippo Camp, as there are hundreds of bays and inundations and
we only covered a third of the shoreline. On the major portion of the
lake was a flock of over five-hundred Northern Shoveler, along the
edges Northern Pintail and Garganey accounted for ten each. There were
numerous waders, the most interesting being a solitary Black-tailed
Godwit but shorebirds were all around the perimeter. Also on the lake
was a flock well over 1000 strong consisting entirely of White-winged
Black Tern, there could easily have been twice that number. I took
some images as we went right through the flock that carried on feeding
regardless of us. On looking at the images, I have one that is
definitely White-winged Black Tern but such a strong pattern as I have
never seen before. As Simon said, so many looked like Little Gulls.
There were no more than two hundred Lesser Flamingos to be seen, and
no Greaters at all. Again this boat trip comes with high
recommendation.
Best to all
Brian