NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 20th January 2014

Dear All,
Mike Davidson and myself collected Nicholas, the Chief Ranger from
Ngong Forest Reserve, from the Galleria Car Park at 6.30am. In
previous weeks it is less than five minutes from here to the Main
Entrance to Nairobi National Park.

It was a beautiful morning and birds were waking up whilst we waited
in the Car Park to the Mall. A party of swallows exploded from
somewhere in the complex, having left a concealed roost. I put my
binoculars up to see what they were, and the bird that I saw so
briefly looked like an Angola Swallow.  I jumped out of the car and
waited for the swallow to reappear, and with luck it came back flying
around and was indeed an Angola Swallow. This is a very interesting
local record, and as all of the swallows that flew away looked dark,
there were possibly multiple Angola Swallows involved. If this bird is
trying to include Nairobi in its range, it is taking a slow process in
doing so, with still so few records. It will be interesting to see if
the birds are still around in the ensuing few days.

Continuing on the Langata Road, there were road works taking place,
and instead of five minutes this short distance took forty-five. The
only compensation was a Cuckoo-Hawk flying around near the cemetery!

On Saturday night, the area had received over an inch of rain, and it
was going to be interesting to see what effect this had had on the
birds in the Park.

At 7.15am we met up with Heather Elkins and Karen Plumbe who had been
present since 6.30am before the road works commenced.

Losing this 45 minutes of the early morning took its toll, and KWS
Mess gardens was so quiet.  A Nightingale was “pinking” and two Tree
Pipits fed on the lawn with two Suni, but that was it. Ivory Burning
Site equally quiet, although a Brown Parisoma was gathering nesting
material.

Nagalomon Dam was “ho hum” as well, the quiet exacerbated by a Tawny
Eagle no sitting on the same branch that had been graced by a Greater
Spotted Eagle the past two visits. There was a male Darter, and three
Green Sandpipers along the edge.

Taking the back road to Hyena Dam, remembering that this was nearly an
hour later than would have been normal was also getting a bit quiet
for birds. However we could hear a very very noisy flock of Eurasian
Bee-eaters, but were not surprised to see ninety fly out of the bushes
and head northwards out of the Park. There were still over ten left
feeding, and odd birds in several other corners were met during the
day. Such a number in January is unprecedented. It explains why we
still have a few birds on most days over the garden in Langata. Are
they wintering in numbers further north that usual this year.

The new swamp did not look any more extensive for the inch of rain,
but there had been a reduction in birds. Twenty-five Wood, for Green
Sandpipers and two Ruff, with no sign of the Yellow Wagtails or
Red-throated Pipits that have enjoyed this spot for a number of weeks.
There were fifteen Jackson’s Widowbirds with the males in full dress
as were a few Red-collareds but no sign of White-winged yet. Quite a
few Barn Swallows were feeding over the grassland, where the first two
of six Secretarybirds were seen, and a nicely changing male Whinchat,
not knowing that we would only be seeing one other today.

We retraced round to Hyena Dam and again quiet. The white-capped
female Eurasian Marsh Harrier was here, but nothing else of note apart
from five Hippos. On the run-off was a different Eurasian Marsh
Harrier, an adult Martial Eagle and more Jackson’s Widowbirds.

We crossed the Mokoyeti Bridge, and headed towards Maasai Gate, soon
after turning flushing a female Common Buttonquail which flew a long
distance not to be relocated obviously. The only bird all the way
round to Athi Basin was the first of two male Pied Wheatears. At the
murrum pools were fifty vultures coming to bathe, which included six
Ruppell’s Vultures.

At Athi Dam, fifty-five White Storks, two of the first Yellow-billed
Storks for some weeks, a Steppe Eagle, an increase to ten Black-winged
Stilts (on Sunday night this was a new species for my garden list, as
a noisy group had flown over in the dark), also ten Spur-winged and
twenty-four Kittlitz’s Plovers. Migratory waders were few with ten
Little Stint, three Greenshank, three Common and a Wood Sandpiper and
a Black-crowned Night-Heron roosting on the Causeway. Continuing
through the grassland to the Cheetah Gate Road we had a very nice
Long-legged Buzzard (see image attached), and an immature Martial
Eagle. On the flooded lugga was a very nice male Greater Painted-Snipe
in the shadow under an inundated tree.

Rhino Circuit was quiet, but there was the days only Common Buzzard, a
further along the river an adult Black Stork rested in a tree, whilst
a nearly adult Fish Eagle sat over the water. An Olivaceous Warbler
was singing near here.

All the way round to the burnt area near Kingfisher, we could only
muster a Long-billed Pipit and a couple of Quailfinch flushed off the
roadside. On the grassy burnt area we found six Black-winged Plovers,
two Northern and one Isabelline Wheatear, whilst at Kingfisher for the
last coffee for the day in the Park we had the days only Willow
Warbler.

We were through the gate at 3.40pm, and no traffic impeded our return homewards.

Mammals were very good in the Athi Basin, though few elsewhere and
nothing unusual.
Probably the strangest thing about today is that every single
Black-shouldered Kite seems to have left the Park overnight!!!

Best to all
Brian

RE THE ATTACHED IMAGE

UPPER SECTION LONG-LEGGED BUZZARD NNP 20th JANUARY 2014

LOWER SECTION LONG-LEGGED BUZZARD NNP APRIL 2013

Today we were lucky enough to find a juvenile Long-legged Buzzard near
Athi Dam. As always it was an impressive monstrous-sized bird. Because
like the bird at Eland Hollow last April was also an immature, I
thought it would be interesting to see if this bird could be the same
individual showing site fidelity. Both had the immature tail being
pale but completely finely barred without an indication of a wider
subterminal.
Last Aprils bird was an unusual individual in lacking any warm or dark
colouration, and the carpal patch was obscure, probably because the
entire underwing coverts were darker than the rest of the wing. Also
with the bases to all the flight feathers being whitish, the primary
flash was not a distinctive feature. It was a rather bland individual.
Todays bird showed pale underwing coverts, which resulted in a very
prominent black carpal patch, the bases of the underside of the
secondaries were brown grey, but the bases of the undersides of the
primaries were very white, though finely barred which gave a very
dramatic primary flash. I don’t think that there is a sequence in the
moults in the intervening nine months that would result in a pattern
change that could lead from April’s bird to todays, and whilst neither
are adult they are different individuals.