Greetings birders

Boni and Dodori National Reserves in the far east of Kenya, and Boni and
Lungi forests between them, are little-explored but biodiversity-rich. A
team from National Museums of Kenya and Nature Kenya carried out a brief
bird survey in the area in early November. The team comprised Timothy
Mwinami, Martha Ngala, Sandy Oduor, David Ngala, Fleur Ng¹weno and three
guides/guards from the Awer community. Simon Musila of NMK is advisor to
this Conservation Leadership Program project.

We had exciting sightings of mammals such as the endangered Aders¹s Duiker
and newly found Sengi (Elephant-shrew). Bird species characteristic of the
East African Coast Biome included Southern Banded Snake Eagle, Fischer's
Turaco, Mangrove Kingfisher, Little Yellow Flycatcher and Tiny Greenbul.
Forest Batis and several others represented range extensions, and we watched
Mouse-coloured and Olive Sunbirds challenging each other by flashing
³headlights² of red or yellow pectoral tufts. Southern migrants such as
Yellowbill and Red-capped Robin Chat were still plentiful, and northern
migrants such as Barn Swallow and Common Nightingale were arriving.

One bird was a challenge (photo and field sketch attached). We were in
Banahalisi, an area of low Acacia woodland interspersed with patches of
dense scrub on white sand, on the road between Mangai village and Kiunga
town.

The bird was a bush shrike, fairly big, with a relatively large head and
medium-long tail. It was black above and white below, with a prominent white
stripe above the eye and a prominent long white patch along the wing. The
crown was edged in black, but grey in the centre, with the grey extending to
the nape and upper part of the mantle. One bird had a dull rufous area on
the grey nape; the others did not.
 
Several birds were observed throughout the day. They foraged in bushes, on
the ground with Rufous Chatterers, and in mid-canopy of acacias. They made
several sounds, including an explosive loud crackling call, a tac-tac-tac
similar to a boubou, and a few musical notes usually answered by a crackling
call. The next day we tried to catch the bird in a mist net but failed.
 
The team was unable to find this bird in books such as Birds of Africa,
Birds of Africa South of the Sahara, or Birds of the Horn of Africa.
However, Don Turner kindly read my notes and replied: ³Your bird is an
aberrant form of the Red-naped Bush Shrike, race kismayensis, which is
common there. Normally it just has a grey back, but clearly the grey has
extended on to the nape in place of red.²

The birds we saw did not look like the two specimens of Red-naped Bush
Shrike in the National Museums of Kenya collections, which seemed to be the
models for the book illustrations. However, our birds did look like the
Red-naped Bush Shrike photo recently posted by Brian Finch, and those on the
internet photographed in Ethiopia ­ except that we did not see red on the
head.

The team saw another bird on Sankuri Ridge, in dense thicket on red sand. It
was also a bush shrike, but brown above and white below, with a prominent
long white patch along the wing. It foraged on the ground, in bushes and in
trees. It may have been an immature of the presumed Red-naped Bush Shrike
race kismayensis.
 
The team therefore plans to return for detailed photos and measurements. A
report on the survey will be written, and a short note similar to the above
is in the December issue of Nature Net, the Nature Kenya newsletter.

With thanks to the Awer community, Nature Kenya, National Museums of Kenya
and the Conservation Leadership Programme,

Fleur