From: Colin Jackson <colin.jackson@arocha.org>
Date: 2013-09-27 09:31
Subject: Terns and Pacific Golden Plover
On Tues this week (24th Sept) on the beach in front of Mwamba (A
Rocha Kenya conservation centre in Watamu) we had a flock of c.1,300
Common Terns and a lot more passing out over the water in the lagoon
heading south. They were clearly just having a brief rest before
continuing on migration - but were stunning to watch in the late
afternoon sunshine...
on Weds (25th) afternoon while having a meeting on our flat roof I
heard an unusual "whutu-wup!" call repeated coming from high
overhead... needless to say the meeting was interrupted mid-flow and
from the balcony we saw a flock of c.250 large waders flying quite
high and purposefully south. It was a familiar sound but not one I
could immediately place - but seeing the birds even without
binoculars they were clearly large plovers and were certainly not
Grey and the best option was Pacific Golden Plover... and that call
was familiar, probably from our sightings at Tana River Delta
each January. Checking on www.xeno-canto.org
I found flight calls of PGP that matched what we had heard.
This is the largest flock of Pacific Golden Plovers recorded outside
of Tana River Delta in Kenya - but they were clearly on a mission
migrating south. Where to? Neil - or others in Tz - have you got
records of significant flocks of PGP anywhere in Tz? Rufiji? I bet
you there is a spot where there is another non-breeding population
of them along the EA coast, possibly in Kenya, but I'm not aware of
any really suitable habitat before Tz...?
Doing some preliminary Kenya Bird Mapping / atlassing (more
information on this to come soon) in Arabuko-Sokoke Weds morning as
well, we had at least two of the much rarer coastal race suahelicus
of African Broadbill amidst the usual Arabuko species.
Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters also flying overhead heading south over the
forest that same morning and our first Barn Swallow - just a single
bird (and still the only one I've seen so far this season) at Sabaki
last week 18th Sept.
Colin
--
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Colin Jackson
A Rocha Kenya
Christians in Conservation
Cell: +254 (0)722-842366
Land: +254 (0)20 260 0731
www.arocha.org
www.assets-kenya.org
Blog: www.arochakenya.wildlifedirect.org