NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 11th January 2015

Dear All,
Today Nigel Hunter and myself arrived at 6.45am at Langata Gate.
Unfortunately it was a case of an absent Customer (couldn’t give a dam
about) Service Clerk, who with frustrating regularity had not pitched
up and so not only did we waste time going around to Main Gate, but we
then had to drive all the way back to Langata Gate as we were on a
mission.

We wanted to find a new species for Nairobi National Park, and thought
we had a good chance of doing so, and did!

We did stop at Nagalomon Dam on our wasted detour back to Langata Gate
from the inside of the Park. There were seven Darters, one was
burrowing into dense tangles of vegetation and pushing the branches
around. Surely this will be the launching as a new breeding species
for NNP this season. By contrast the Black-crowned Night-Herons had
had a good season already and there were many young birds scattered
amongst the adults. A very showy adult Purple Heron was in the far
corner of the now almost open dam following the cyclic typha die back.
Also in amorous mode was a pair of adult Fish Eagles chorusing face to
face from the top of the tree. This is another species that has never
nested in NNP. The first of three different Western Marsh Harriers was
here. The edge was quiet, a scattering of Green and many Wood
Sandpipers, both species appearing to be common and everywhere today
with some sixty plus of the latter. A pair of Spotted Thick-knees were
on the drift. The Zanzibar Sombre Greenbul was in full voice where it
has been for many years, in the scrub behind the side of the dam.

We took the road up hill to Langata Gate and drove towards it turning
off right to look at the glade. In the forest Narina Trogon and
White-starred Robin were calling, but the damp vlei was not rewarding.
Apart from Wood and Green Sandpipers, there was a pair of Crowned
Cranes, the first of five pairs today, but none showing any signs of
nesting. A dozen Eurasian Bee-eaters with some adults already looking
quite fresh, and four lutea Yellow Wagtails. We continued to
Hippogrebe Dam, but all that was there was a Great Egret, and at the
Drinking Pond, not much drinking but two each of Tambourine Dove and
Blackcaps.
We continued through the forest finding the new Bateleurs nest, with
one further down the road. Then we heard what we were looking for, and
found an impressive gathering of twenty Yellow White-eyes, a new
species for NNP!
As we emerged to head back towards Nagalomon there in the forest was a
pair of African Silverbills associating with Common Waxbills. Also
from the dense scrub not only were Common Nightingales singing, but
Thrush Nightingales as well, which is very late if they are thinking
of moving on.

It was quiet on the front road to Hyena Dam, but being nearly 11.00am
not surprising. Shortly before we pulled up near the causeway, were a
Saddle-billed Stork and Secretarybird, and in this corner of the dam
were a single Swamphen and some noisy African Water Rails. Whilst
sitting by the dam with coffee in hand, not a lot could be seen. There
was quite a gathering of Sacred Ibis that really look if they are
trampling the large bush into a large breeding platform. Long-toed
Plover appears to have dropped to a single bird. There were single
Red-billed Teal and African Spoonbill, a female Whinchat (only bird of
the day), along the edge and good numbers of Barn Swallow which was
todays most dominant swallow species, with Lesser Striped running
second. The water level has dropped very fast and all of the marshy
fringes have gone. At the back of the dam there was some running water
keeping one area open and wet, and in this were males of beema and
dombrowskii Yellow Wagtails (see images).
Continuing along the back road towards Ivory Burning Site there was
nothing too much, but the African Water Rails here are still surviving
in their reduced habitat.

Although now late in the morning, at Ivory Burning Site, one of the
Acacia gerardii was in full flower and it was attracting many birds.
Amongst the blossom we found an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Nigel had
the good fortune to see an Upcher’s but it was never seen again which
was sad, there were also a single Willow Warbler and a pair of Brown
Parisomas. In the scrub again both Nightingale species were singing,
and other migrants were giving odd chips, but could not be identified
and certainly could not be seen! There were single female Pied
Wheatear and Tree Pipit, and of renewed interest were five typical
Abyssinian White-eyes in the Lantana/Rus scrub, great for comparison
with the recent sighting of Yellow White-eyes.

We headed out for the “Burnt Area,” with an impressive 26 Black-winged
Plovers, possibly the highest count in the Park, there was a Booted
Eagle, a pair of noisy Meyer’s Parrots, the first of four Isabelline
and first of three Northern Wheatears.

Continuing past Maasai Gate we took the short-cut to East Gate,
finding our only migrant shrike for the day, a superb adult male
Isabelline, and in the grassland a male Hartlaub’s Bustard, and a
female Lesser Kestrel all on its own, but appeared short and rounded
winged. There were a few Banded Martins over the plains.
Karen Primary School Dam failed to produce, but Eland Hollow had four
White-faced Whistling-Duck, a Spur-winged Goose and a couple of
Red-billed Teal.
We took the more direct route back towards the north and in doing so
found a flowering Acacia stuhlmanni amongst the drepanolobium, a
species we had never heard of from the Park before. On the Hyena Dam
run-off were many Jackson’s Widowbirds in full breeding dress still,
associating with a few now-breeding White-winged, and
breeding-plumaged Red-billed Queleas which included an attractive
“red” bird. By Nagalomon Dam there was a breeding-plumaged
Rosy-breasted Longclaw, which was a bit of an extravert.

We were through Langata Gate at 5.00pm.

Although there was a good showing of game we did not see anything
remotely unusual today, but in spite of the potential of KWS trying to
thwart our plans by not letting us through Langata Gate in the
morning, we still achieved our goal of the White-eyes.

Best to all
Brian















KEY TO THE PLATE

TOP LEFT, SECOND TOP FROM FAR LEFT
BREEDING PLUMAGE ROSY-BREASTED LONGCLAW

With the dry conditions prevailing and the drying of the grasslands as
well as water bodies, it was surprising to find this bird in full
breeding condition in short grass at Nagalomon Dam.

MID-LEFT AND THIRD TOP FROM LEFT
BREEDING PLUMAGE “RED” RED-BILLED QUELEA

“Red” birds are not a common sight in NNP, this one was associating
with normal breeding-plumaged buffy Red-billed Queleas.

BOTTOM LEFT
ACACIA STUHLMANNI

Continuing on past Eland Hollow, back towards the north, we found this
Acacia stuhlmanni in full flower amongst the large stand of
non-flowering Acacia drepanolobium. The delicate pink hue to the
flowers and the strange wholly woolly plump seedpods readily
identified it. However neither Nigel nor myself have ever heard of the
species being recorded in NNP before, and there was only the one
individual. The butterfly is Anthene ocatilia, but the bush was a
magnet for Lycaenids.

TOP SECOND FROM RIGHT
SYKE’S YELLOW WAGTAIL race beema.

This bird was on the back of Hyena Dam, where one wintered last year
in the same place as a male dombrowski, which is possibly the same
bird again this year, in exactly the same place.

MIDDLE BOTTOM
DOMBROWSKI’S YELLOW WAGTAIL race (form) dombrowskii

This form is found in Romania. It isn’t actually in S&F nor Z&T. It
differs from similar “superciliaris” in having a white throat, not all
yellow underparts. It is thought that “superciliaris” is a hybrid
between “feldegg” and “flava.”  I first found the bird on 2nd December
2013. This is from the report I did for NNP on 7th Jan 2014… “and
amongst the Yellow Wagtails, three flava, and one each of lutea,
dombrowski and beema.”
As dombrowskii is rarely reported in Kenya, I would suggest that this
is a site fidelity and it is the same bird as present last year.

TOP RIGHT
AFRICAN SILVERBILLS

This species has greatly increased as a regular in NNP in the past few
years only. But now this desert species has made another habitat leap,
and now this pair along a track in Kisembe Forest, associating with
Common Waxbills!!!

BOTTOM RIGHT
ISABELLINE SHRIKE

This really nice adult male was the only migrant shrike seen today.
Usually well outnumbered by Turkestan and rarely as textbook as this
individual.