Dear all,

We made an impromptu visit to Kwenia (near Magadi) together with Rupi Mangat, Fleur Ng'weno and Karin Fueg this past Sunday.

Kwenia is known (at least among the raptor folks) as an important breeding cliff for endangered Ruppell's Vultures.  It's a bit of a rush to do a day trip to Kwenia, but that's all we could manage.  We counted roughly 40 vultures, though the real treat was the Amur Falcons.  When we arrived there were in the range of 60 Amurs together with maybe 15 Common Kestrels sitting singly on small rocks on the ground.  The birds were obviously feasting on some emerging insect, though we couldn't see anything obvious.  As we drove up one bird quickly turned into 2, then 3, then 4,.... until we realised that the area was swarming with Amurs and to a lesser extent kestrels.  The majority of the Amurs were females and immatures, though one male was also spotted.  It was spectacular!

The only downside was all the tree clearing that continues along the Magadi road.  We also spotted 4 ostrich along the way.

Cheers, Darcy