KARAMAINI ESTATE-JUJA AND KIENI FOREST 14th July 2013

Dear All,
On 14th July, Nigel Hunter and myself met up at his Karen home at
6:30am. It was a very cold (9oC) morning but clear blue skies, bright
and sunny.
Having pre-arranged a visit with Brian Williams to his home on
Karamaini  Estate near Juja, we arrived in a little under an hour.
Firstly we looked at the vlei, but it was dry. Two Flappet Larks were
displaying (closest to Nairobi?), but there was not too much else
happening. Walking around the dam we found a Darter, and a Cape
Wagtail. It seems so odd that the bird occurs higher and lower than
Nairobi where it is inexplicably scarce, and no record in NNP, (at
least in the past forty years). African Golden Weavers were in full
swing with much activity in the sedges. In the woodland by the dam we
located four Grey-olive Greenbuls which were very obliging and allowed
themselves to be videoed, in the same ilk there were a couple of
Zanzibar Sombres, and the most surprising was a Northern Brownbul. A
Brown-hooded Kingfisher was most indifferent, allowing very close
approach, and there was a single female Black-throated Wattle-eye.
There was also a good assortment of normal bush birds but nothing
worthy of special note.

After leaving Karamaini we had not gone more than a couple of
kilometres when we heard some Hinde’s Babblers along the road, and
spent time with five of these very attractive birds.

By following to the end of this dirt road, you come to the paved Seven
Sisters Road out of Thika, and by turning immediately left onto the
road, then immediately right onto another paved road, it brings you
out to Kieni Forest. This seems a very quick route and we were in the
forest in a little over three-quarters of an hour. It might also be a
very pleasant surprise to note that there was not a single pot-hole
all the way to the Kinangop Flyover!

The birds were initially very quiet at Kieni, but we stumbled on a
movement of Siafu, and in attendance were Ruppell’s Robin Chats,
White-starred Robins, and the prize being an adult and immature spotty
Brown-chested Alethe. We must have spent half-an-hour with the birds,
which were very entertaining. Personally I have never seen an immature
east of the Rift before, and whilst the species is a very scarce
resident and must breed, I have not heard of such records of spotted
immatures being seen, so this constitutes a good breeding record.

In the mid-afternoon there was a little more activity and we had a
good assortment of montane forest birds.