SANCTUARY FARM NAIVASHA 6TH OCTOBER 2013

Dear All,
Nigel Hunter and myself departed Nairobi shortly after 6.30pm,
arriving at Sanctuary Farm on Lake Naivasha shortly before 8.00am.

We birded along the shoreline in front of the Restaurant, then had a
look at the flooded fields near the pump-house finally having lunch in
the Acacia forest and returned homewards at 2.30pm.

It was a very nice day, and a few good sightings. There was not as
many waders as I would have thought would have been along this ideal
habitat by now.

A very nice Black Egret was on the foreshore, with another or the same
in the flooded fields near the pumphouse, where there was an Osprey
spending much time in this area.

As we arrived a Black-headed Gull flew away not to be seen again,
migrant waders were not very good with fifteen Wood, a Green, four
Common and a dozen Marsh Sandpipers, four Greenshank, ten Little
Stints, three Curlew Sandpipers and twenty-five Ruff. None of the
scarcer species yet, not even Black-tailed Godwits, although they were
here in July.

By far the best bird was a Madagascar Cuckoo in the acacia on the
western end of the bay, there are a series of images attached with
more details. Black, Red-chested and African were present in the same
area. In the same trees was a male Bearded Woodpecker, which are not
seen often along the south shore of the Lake.

Palearctic migrants seen were a stunning adult male with a female
Eurasian Golden Oriole, three Willow Warblers, two Northern Wheatears
and twenty-seven Yellow Wagtails. There were good numbers of Barn
Swallows, but only a few Sand Martins.

A full list of the species recorded follows;


Little Grebe	
African Darter
White Pelican
Pink-backed Pelican	
Great Cormorant
Long-tailed Cormorant
African Darter
Cattle Egret
Little Egret
Black Egret
Striated Heron
Great Egret
Grey Heron
Hamerkop
Yellow-billed Stork
Sacred Ibis
Hadada Ibis
Glossy Ibis
African Spoonbill
Egyptian Goose
Yellow-billed Duck
Red-billed Teal
Hottentot Teal
Osprey
African Harrier Hawk
Gabar Goshawk	
African Fish Eagle
Tawny Eagle	
Black Crake
Common Moorhen
Southern Crowned Crane
African Jacana
Black -winged Stilt
Blacksmith Plover
Spur-winged Plover	
Crowned Plover
Three-banded Plover
Little Stint
Curlew Sandpiper
Ruff
Marsh Sandpiper
Common Greenshank
Green Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Grey-headed Gull
Black-headed Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Whiskered Tern
White-winged Black Tern
Red-eyed Dove
Ring-necked Dove
Laughing Dove
Yellow-collared Lovebird
Black Cuckoo
Red-chested Cuckoo	
African Cuckoo
Madagascar Cuckoo
Diederik Cuckoo
Mottled Swift	
White-rumped Swift	
Malachite Kingfisher
Giant Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
White-fronted Bee-eater
Lilac-breasted Roller
African Hoopoe	
Green Wood-Hoopoe
African Grey Hornbill
Greater Honeyguide
Grey Woodpecker
Nubian Woodpecker
Bearded Woodpecker
Yellow Wagtail
Grassland Pipit
Plain Martin
Sand Martin
Wire-tailed Swallow	
Barn Swallow	
Rock Martin	
Black-lored Babbler
Cape Robin-Chat
Northern Wheatear
Northern Anteater Chat
Southern Black Flycatcher	
Pale Flycatcher
Lesser Swamp Warbler
Willow Warbler
Winding Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Yellow-breasted Apalis
Grey-capped Warbler
Red-faced Crombec	
Buff-bellied Warbler	
Brown Parisoma
White-bellied Tit
African Paradise Flycatcher
Chin-spot Batis
Sulphur-breasted Bush-Shrike
Tropical Boubou
Black Cuckoo-shrike	
Grey-backed Fiscal
Common Drongo
Black-headed Oriole	
Eurasian Golden Oriole
Black-lored Babbler
Superb Starling
Wattled Starling
Red-billed Oxpecker	
Scarlet-chested Sunbird
Variable Sunbird	
Rufous Sparrow
Chestnut Sparrow
Baglafecht Weaver
Spectacled Weaver
Lesser Masked Weaver
Speke’s Weaver
Red-headed Weaver	
Common Quailfinch	
Streaky Seedeater
Yellow-rumped Seedeater
African Citril	
Brimstone Canary


NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 7th OCTOBER 2013

Dear All,
Mike Davidson, Heather Elkins, Fleur Ng’Weno, Karen Plumbe and myself
met up at 7.00am at the Main Entrance to Nairobi National Park. The
reason for the late start was that the traffic was appalling with the
construction still continuing past its completion date. The transition
through the gate was speedy and efficient, and we made straight for
KWS Main Gate after stopping to appreciate a Willow Warbler that had
survived the gauntlet of Mediterranean bird killers and was busily
feeding in a flowering Milletia.
It was a bright and sunny day and remained so, though never actually
got that hot.

Apart from a pair of Suni, the garden was not at all rewarding. The
usual birds were present, with additionally five Violet-backed
Starlings and a flock of forty Eurasian Bee-eaters flew over. From
here we went to the Ivory Burning Site with nothing at all to make us
linger.

The Thick-knees were not on the Nagalomon drift, but the Red-collared
Widowbird that lives in a very small area, and has managed never to
lose its tail, was. It is such an incredibly tame individual and feeds
alongside quite unconcerned. The dam itself was very quiet, there were
a couple of Darters, a few Black-crowned Night-Heron were loafing in
the waterside woodland, but it was too much like daylight for any
nest-building activity. With them was what was presumably the same
Madagascar Pond Heron seen resting on this same perch a number of
times over this season. But now it had greatly changed and was going
white, (see attached image), as it progresses into breeding plumage,
and soon to leave us.

Nothing was encountered along the back road to Hyena Dam, apart from
three Green and a Wood Sandpiper along the creek, and at the dam we
were to be confused by the presence of three Darters (were there still
darters at Nagalomon Dam?). It was a nice coffee break entertainment
watching their tilapia-catching success. Other than this we could only
muster a couple of White-faced Whistling-Ducks, a noisy African Water
Rail, three more Wood Sandpipers, and a few Barn Swallows that
remained a common sight all through the Park today. The only Whinchat
of the day was on the run-off and two Long-crested Eagles along the
Mokoyeti, and as these had all primaries accounted for and we had seen
one with several primaries missing near Nagalomon Dam, then there were
three birds in the area.

Then we took the long and boring drive from here all the way to Athi
Basin. It must be so frustrating for visitors to see all the plains
game such a long way off and not being able to get anywhere near them
for a photograph. Soon the word will get out that Nairobi National
Park is now a most frustrating place to see the wildlife, and no
chance of photographs at all, and will go elsewhere. One has to wonder
about the sensitivity to customer requirements by the people are in
tasked to manage the Park, they are certainly very quiet,
non-responsive to enquiries as to why all the roads have been closed,
and show no interest in replying to the questions sent to them both by
Fonnap and Nature Kenya.
So we drove through seeing dot-like Kongoni, dot-like White Rhinos,
dot-like gazelles etc. Birds were equally mundane with our confinement
to the main highway, though we found the first of four Secretarybirds,
of course the reliable Martial Eagle was at its nest, the Tawny Eagles
at Mbuni Picnic Site have fledged, and there was a group of five
Orange-breasted Waxbills flying ahead of us and feeding quite openly.
Although with bright red rumps, none of them showed anything other
than pale buff underparts and were thought a family of fledged
immatures. We did have a magnificent male Saddle-billed Stork that
could have put its bill through the window, and after very close
admiration we drove away leaving it still attending to its appearance.

Finally after the long long drag, thankfully after the speeding
commuters were already through the Park, and did not have to suffer
their dust along with all the poor suffering visiting tourists who get
their lens coated, thanks to them, in a dangerous abrasive film…. we
arrived at Athi Basin and at the murrum pits (road closed) we could
see a pair of Crowned Cranes who knows what else was in there.
Vultures were coming in to bathe (this used to be such a daily tourist
spectacle before the road was closed off), but now they land behind
the gravel hills, again who knows what was in there.

Athi Dam greeted us with a stunning vista of thirteen illegal giant
pylons, but worse than this was a smell that was so acrid it tingled
the nasal passages. It was like being in an over-chlorinated
swimming-pool. Because there was quite a wind, we could not tell
whether this was a contamination at the dam, or was noxious odour
blowing in from outside of the Park. It could be quite serious.
However there were no dead birds or mammals, but then again the dam
was as birdless at I have ever seen it at this time of year. The first
Common Buzzard of the season was feeding over the grasslands, a dark
bird. Later on we had a pale Common Buzzard near Leopard Cliffs. Of
the larger African species, there were single Crowned Crane,
Yellow-billed Stork, African Spoonbill, Grey Heron, and only a handful
of Marabous. Waders were four Spur-winged, eight Blacksmith and
fifteen Kittlitz’s Plovers whilst migrants were just three each of
Little Stints, Common Greenshanks and Common Sandpipers and a Green
Sandpiper. Six Speckled Pigeon fed on the foreshore weeds, and three
Black-crowned Night-Herons roosted on the Causeway. Whilst we had
lunch, Eurasian Bee-eaters could be heard somewhere. We saw a few more
bee-eaters along the Mbagathi and at Kingfisher Picnic Site.

Nothing along the road towards Cheetah Gate, apart from an incubating
Secretarybird, the Pearl-spotted Owlet was calling in the usual place
along the river, but could not be induced out into the heat of the
day. There were six stunningly all blue and black Violet Wood-Hoopoes
here, feeding low and glistening in the sunlight, and a couple of
Wattled Starlings fed on the backs of Zebra. Just above the Hippo
Pools was a group of three Speckle-fronted Weavers and the final birds
of the day were a pair of unseen noisy Brown Parrots calling down the
valley at Kingfisher, where they were two weeks ago. Possibly they are
nesting along there.

Black-shouldered Kite numbers might be dropping away now, with ten
seen, and no Lesser Striped Swallows have come back yet.

As far as the more interesting mammals are concerned, we had Hippos on
Nagalomon, Hyena and Athi Dams, a female Steinbok above the Athi
Basin, a Syke’s Monkey on the Mokoyeti just below Nagalomon, a
Side-striped Ground-Squirrel at Baboon Cliffs where there were nine
Bush Hyrax.

In the Rhino Circuit area we counted over 150 Cattle and three
cowherders inside the Park. We reported this to the ranger at Hippo
Pools. It took a long time to wake him up as he was in deep slumber,
he listened rolled over went back to his siesta and did absolutely
nothing. Cattle along the Rhino Circuit are a stake out, blind Freddie
could not miss them, but it seems a blind spot for KWS.

Just a little east from the Massai Gate turn-off we saw a woman
walking along the valley heading towards Lion Dip carrying a large
white sack.

At Nagalomon Dam having not long been in the Park, we were harassed by
a surly group of rangers led by a smile-less woman, that wanted to
check our tickets. Quite honestly I can think of far more pressing
issues that checking the damn tickets. If we are in there every week,
isn’t it obvious that we are in there having paid, if they check our
tickets and find them in order every time, is it likely that we have
tried to buck the system on this occasion?

The previous day was the organised game count. Some friends of mine
have been doing the count on the same block just north from Baboon
Cliffs for the past thirty years. Of course it is a service provided
freely in every respect by the interested citizens of Nairobi for the
benefit of KWS. There had always been an arrangement that rather than
drive all the way up Magadi Road and down to the Main Gate, that they
would enter Langata Gate (originally it was Banda Gate down the bottom
of our road, but they stopped that). They arrived and there was not a
soul stirring, after banging on the gate, a woman came to the gate and
said there was no-one there and they could not come in. So they had to
drive all the way round to Main Entrance. They advised me that there
was an official looking woman at Main Gate who was very neatly
dressed, obviously in charge and they took as the Warden. They told
them their problem with no-one at Langata Gate, in the politest of
manners, but the woman stormed of in a huff without acknowledging the
problem, and was most abrupt.
(All this is as it was reported to me, and I trust it implicitely).
Then they were doing the same block, counting game as they always had
on every organised game count, and a KWS vehicle drove up to them and
told them they were “Off Road Driving!!!!!!!!”

It will be most interesting to see the figures, they have to be down a
conservative 70% as there is no way to get to the animals to count
them now. If the numbers remain similar to before, then the accuracy
has to be seriously questioned.

As the Park continues its management spiral downhill, all these issues
now have to be addressed very urgently. The Director of Wildlife need
be aware of the problems, and Fonnap really needs to do something
positive in finding out what is going on with the administration of
the Park.

We were out of the Park just after 4.00pm and the traffic moved
steadily with no blocks in spite of the road chaos.


Best for now
Brian

EXPLANATION AND DISCUSSION REGARDING THE MONTAGE

TOP ROW AND MIDDLE ROW TWO FARTHEST LEFT

MADAGASCAR CUCKOO SANCTUARY FARM NAIVASHA

We found this adult Madagascar Cuckoo at Sanctuary Farm on Lake
Naivasha.  It was feeding on what looked like ” tussock-moth”
caterpillars that were in large numbers in flowering Acacia
xanthophloea (Yellow-barked Acacia) trees. African, Red-chested and
Black Cuckoos were also in this area. Unlike these other Cuculus, the
Madagascar was tame and confiding, snatching the caterpillars from the
leaves in short sallies from various perches, and landing to consume
them. Seeming to be completely indifferent to our presence.
Madagascar Cuckoos are exceedingly rare in Kenya, then virtually
confined to the extreme west. I have only seen one before in the
country at Kakamega, and it was a lifer for Nigel. In Uganda where
they are uncommon austral winter-visitors, birds are usually seen in
moult, so to find one in fresh breeding dress as far east as Naivasha
on its southward return to Madagascar, was a treat indeed.
The treatment in the guides is rather scant, the illustration in
Zimmermann & Turner is the more representative in this case, of the
two local field-guides. This shows the almost immaculate buff lower
belly to undertail that is almost certainly diagnostic of this
species. Asian Lesser Cuckoos show prominent to heavy barring in this
area, some Madagascar can show a little barring but most are unmarked.
The illustration in Stevenson & Fanshawe is unfortunately fairly
heavily barred.
The very short tail, that is square-ended, not rounded or graduated
readily separate the bird from considerably larger with longer more
graduated tails of Eurasian and African Cuckoos, both species usually
having extensive barring on the undertail coverts.
The underside of the tail shows an attractive blotchy pattern, not the
neat barring of the two larger species. The Madagascar Cuckoo averages
longer winged than Lesser, and the primaries can be seen reaching
within an inch of the tail tip.
As this is a bird already in breeding condition, the basal half of the
bill is very bright, and even reddish tinged, and the yellow eye-ring
very bright. Spring birds in Madagascar also often show this reddish
tinge to the lower half of the bill. African and Eurasian are always
bright yellow sometimes with an orange tinge, what little there is on
a Eurasian, but never this deep salmon.
Only the widely spaced flank bands are heavy, the centre of the breast
having cleaner and finer banding, and the grey head contrasts with the
dark grey upperparts.



CENTRE MIDDLE ROW

SAME MADAGASCAR CUCKOO FLIGHT

CENTRE THIRD ROW

STRANGE RAPTOR WINGS RAISED

We encountered this strange plumaged large eagle resting in an acacia.
Initially almost a silhouette, but by shifting were able to see it in
slightly more favourable light. It had us confused as to the identity,
and various Aquilas were considered, and potential identifications
see-sawing between Great Spotted and Imperial Eagles. In this wings
raised image, the bird against the light looks very black and white
with all blackish head, breast and thighs, whitish undertail, and
inner primaries and inner secondaries.



MIDDLE ROW TWO FARTHEST RIGHT

STRANGE RAPTOR SANCTUARY FARM NAIVASHA

The next image from below, shows that the all dark head is not all
dark, and there are paler patches behind the eye and in the loral
area. The belly was not all blackish, but heavily blotched and
streaked with pale. The underside of the tail was whitish, with a
terminal darker band. Could it be some strange plumage of Imperial
with the pale dark tipped tail, and obscure face pattern.

BOTTOM ROW TWO FARTHEST LEFT

STRANGE RAPTOR SANCTUARY FARM NAIVASHA

The extreme left bird is almost silhouetted, the shape looks like an
Aquila, and the shaggy nape and neck has a resemblance to Great
Spotted Eagle. From the back there were pale spots and tips to the
secondaries and what is more there is no conspicuous yellow gape. All
these are also found in Great Spotteds.

BOTTOM ROW THIRD FROM LEFT

ADULT BLACK CUCKOOSHRIKE WITH EXTENSIVE YELLOW SHOULDERS

There were not many birds in the acacia, far fewer than would be
imagined, but one tree had a gathering of five Black Cuckoo-shrikes.
One of the two males had these extensive bright yellow shoulder
patches. This is only about the fourth bird like this I can ever
recall seeing in Kenya, most of our males have unimpressive all
blackish wings. So where do these birds come from. Could they just be
winter visitors from further south. Has anyone ever seen a
yellow-shouldered bird breeding in Kenya? There has to be a reason for
this forms scarcity in this country.

BOTTOM ROW FOURTH FROM LEFT

STRANGE RAPTOR IN FLIGHT

….and then the eagle took off and we could see immediately what it
was. It was an interesting exercise as to how even the most familiar
bird of prey can turn up in plumages leading to confusion!

BOTTOM RIGHT SQUARE

TOP LEFT

MADAGASCAR POND HERON

This was NNP’s only contribution to the collage today, and at quite a
distance perched up in a tree on Nagalomon Dam. A fairly late bird,
although Karen Club also still has its bird. Interestingly this
individual is now showing the moult into its distinctive breeding
plumage. The streaking is becoming overwashed by the increasing amount
of white. There is an ivory wash appearing on the head, the
fluorescent pale blue is starting to show on the bill, and the legs
are now bright yellow. The blackish saddle has gone and so has the
grey buff undertone of the underparts, this now being replaced by
white

TOP RIGHT

YELLOW WAGTAIL

There were twenty-seven Yellow Wagtails feeding under a group of
Waterbuck. Twenty-six of these were Blue-headed Wagtails of the race
flava, most were adult males, others adult females and no immatures in
really dull plumage were seen at all. There were no lutea seen either.
This was the only individual not fitting in with the flava. The dull
upperparts, all grey crown and all grey cheeks with a dark lower
border suggest either thunbergi or feldegg, but the strange blackish
loral line, irregular white supercilium suggests a “superciliaris”
which is considered a hybrid between flava and feldegg. It’s always
interesting to see what the first races are to reach here, and what
habitat they turn up in. As birders we should not just treat a Yellow
Wagtail as just that, if it can be identified to race the information
will give us an understanding of the distributions in the region.
There is not just a geographical separation, but also a possibility of
altitude and habitat as well, almost certainly Yellow Wagtails have
more of a story to tell than we give them credit for. Rift Valley
lakes always have a bias to flava.

MIDDLE RIGHT

YELLOW WAGTAIL

This is one of the typical flava

BOTTOM RIGHT

OSPREY