NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 19th April 2015

Dear All,
On 19th April, Nigel Hunter and myself arrived at Langata Gate at
6.40am. We were greeted and made welcome by a charming Customer
Service person, and she said that she had been there since 6.00am. We
were speedily processed.

Our first stop was the vlei towards Magadi Road, there were a dozen
Wood Sandpipers but nothing else other than the only Common Cuckoo of
the day (where are they?). There were however swarms of midges. There
were many in the car, but I did not feel a bite. I had only met them
twice before, both occasions at the back of Hyena Dam. When I got home
I found I had ten bites, which turned into huge welts that produce and
released much lymph and itched. Beware of these swamp midges they are
nasty. Three times in thirty years I can put up with, but they have
all been within the last twelve months!

Moving on we saw our first of 35 Red-backed Shrikes for the day, and
there was a Little Grebe on Hippogrebe Pond, though no Hippo. Along
the Mokoyeti there was a stunning and confiding Bateleur and two male
Violet-backed Starlings. There was then little to interest us until
Nagalomon Dam which looks bare with the continuing die back of typha.
On the “island” were a Great Cromorant and five Darter with a subadult
Fish Eagle on top. Only three Black-crowned Night-Herons were to be
seen, but the pair of Spotted Thick-knees were on the drift.

At Ivory Burning Site we were not rewarded with any migrants, so
continued on to Hyena Dam along the back route. The first of four
Spotted Flycatchers was along the road, as was the only Eurasian
Bee-eater of the day. There was some water in the new swamp, and it
looks like it might flood again.

Hyena Dam also looks so sparse with the now escalating die back of the
typha. The result is that some skulkers don’t any more, a pair of
Swamphens was happy to feed with no cover next to the car, and African
Water Rails are feeding in dry short grass away from cover. Also
whilst we had our morning coffee we saw single Squacco and Purple
Herons and Great Egret, a couple each of Yellow-billed Storks and
African Spoonbills, also in pairs were White-faced Whistling Duck,
Red-billed and Hottentot Teals and African Jacanas, but three
Long-toed Plovers. A Secretarybird was in the grass, and we had
another single and a trio later in the morning. The first of only two
pairs of Crowned Cranes seen today, apart from a few Chestnut Weavers
all three widowbirds, which were in breeding plumage and quite well
distributed but only in the north of the Park. There was a very showy
Sedge Warbler which entertained us and at the end of the causeway we
could hardly believe our eyes, there in its residence for two months
in an isolated clump of bushes was the (once tail-less) Eurasian Reed
Warbler still happy in its confinement, but sharing it with single
Sedge and Willow Warblers. Only two more of the latter were seen all
day.

We next visited Olmanyi Dam, on the way our first of 35 Lesser Grey
Shrikes, and the only two Red-tails as both females they could not be
identified. There was a female Saddle-billed Stork in a swampy
depression, another Bateleur, the first of two Common Kestrels (the
only migrant raptor all day), a female Black-bellied Bustard in a
traditional wet season spot, some Shelley’s Francolin were calling, a
single Pangani Longclaw, and a pair of Parasitic Weavers including the
most confiding male I have ever seen. At the dam were a Yellow-billed
Stork, a couple of African Spoonbills, a single Grey Heron and amongst
the local breeding swifts, a few African Black were drinking.

We saw little on the way to Kingfisher, or on the burnt patch all the
way towards Leopard Cliffs, but at the crossing of the Mokoyeti below
Baboon Cliffs was the first Mountain Wagtail I have seen in the Park
for what seems like years, also the days only African Firefinch.

As we neared Hippo Pools we could see that the landscape was as arid
as ever, somehow the SE corner had managed to miss all the recent
rain. On the Rhino Circuit where we had lunch, were a black
Levaillant’s Cuckoo, an African Hoopoe, a very lonely Violet
Wood-hoopoe and a Tree Pipit. Whilst in the dry grass there were
twenty Chestnut Sparrows mixed with Wattled Starlings and an unusual
number of Superb Starlings. Nearby was the only Common Whitethroat of
the day.

Athi Dam had a reasonable variety but no surprises, six Yellow-billed
and three White Storks, hundreds of Marabous, twenty White-faced
Whistling Ducks (but we had the species on six other waterbodies which
is not usual), a Tawny Eagle, three Black-winged Stilt, five
Spur-winged, fifteen Kittlitz’s and two Common Ringed Plovers, a dozen
Little Stints, two each of Greenshank and Common Sandpipers, three
Wood Sandpipers. Above the Athi Basin were two male Kori Bustards, and
a Rosy-breasted Longclaw.

Eland Hollow and Karen Primary School Dams produced nothing, there was
a Sand Martin near Nagalomon on the return, and Barn Swallows had
really been in small numbers all day with no flocks of over ten
individuals seen. The last birds were a pair of Yellow-billed Duck on
Langata Swamp and we were through the gate by 4.45pm.


Mammals had been exceptional especially the plains game in the
southern parts, we had seen ten antelopine species and no Waterbuck!
Also a few White Rhinos near Kingfisher, and Hippos on Nagalomon and
Hyena Dams where they are finding it difficult to hide!

Although there were no major finds today, when we totalled the species
recorded it was over 190.

Best to all
Brian





KEY TO THE MONTAGE

TOP LEFT
BATELEUR
Only the one pair in the Park, this was not far from the new nest.
Notice the extraordinary attenuated primaries below the branch.

TOP ROW SECOND FROM FAR LEFT
PARASITIC WEAVER

The confiding male met with. Nairobi NP is probably the best place to
see the species, certainly that I know of.

TOP ROW THIRD FROM FAR LEFT
SECRETARYBIRDS

Three together in flight, and all appear quite adult and grey.

TOP RIGHT
COMMON KESTREL

This male and a female seen later were the only migrant raptors seen today!

SECOND ROW FAR LEFT
SERRATED HINGED TERRAPIN

I saw one near the same place on Hyena Dam about a year ago. This
species is confined to permanent water, and in NNP is only in the
Mbagathi River and its floodings. I suspect this is the same
individual, as I cannot imagine one walking up all the way from the
river, and also suspect someone put it there!

SECOND ROW SECOND FROM FAR LEFT
RED-BACKED SHRIKE

This adult female one of thirty-five Red-backed Shrikes today, is
beautifully scalloped below. Obviously the main contingent of migrant
shrikes has not yet reached us, at least I hope so and it’s not the
Arab nations slaughtering them when they pass through heading south. I
wonder how the number of wintering shrikes in southern Africa compares
with a decade ago.

SECOND ROW THIRD FROM FAR LEFT
MOUNTAIN WAGTAIL

The bird below Baboon Cliffs.


SECOND ROW FAR RIGHT
AFRICAN JACANA

On Hyena Dam enjoying a bath.

THIRD ROW FAR LEFT
AFRICAN DRONGO

This is for its aesthetic beauty, the contrasting shiny black and blue
with the stunning pink and rose of the Carissa.

THIRD ROW MIDDLE
RINGED PLOVER

They have been strangely scarce this year.

THIRD ROW FAR RIGHT
HOTTENTOT TEAL

Uncommon in NNP of late, a pair at Hyena Dam also bathing.

BOTTOM LEFT
SPOTTED THICK-KNEE

Dozing and hoping not to be seen.

BOTTOM ROW MIDDLE
BIRDSCAPE

Good variety at Hyena Dam in the afternoon.

BOTTOM RIGHT
LESSER GREY SHRIKE

Came in equal with Red-backed at 35 for the day. Historically
Red-backs outnumbered Lesser Greys 5:1.