Karen Country Club bird walk, 8 June 2015
There was a small turn-out for our Karen Country Club bird walk on Monday, 8 June – a change from the usual Friday outing. Myself, Alastair Campbell, Hilary Atkins and Martina Aloo set off round the 10th and 11th fairways for a change, as the bright start to the morning soon turned cold and overcast and we did not linger long.
It was good to get clear views of a few species that can be betray their presence through song but can be difficult to pick out – Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, Northern Double-collared Sunbird, Black-backed Puffback and the spectacular Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike. A few Lesser Striped Swallows swooped above the trees, emitting their oddly attractive wheezing call.
We made our way round to the wetlands to find them very overgrown and few species in attendance – a few Yellow-billed Duck and Black Crake, and the faint hammering of a Cardinal Woodpecker in the fringing acacias. The dams were full of water after the heavy rains, but again bird life was sparse – Reed and Great Cormorant, Little Grebe, and a solitary Grey Heron.
A rather subdued outing as the cool season approaches, but still a creditable 42 species.
John Dawson
Birds seen and heard on Karen Club bird walk, 8 June 2015
Yellow-billed Duck
Little Grebe
Sacred Ibis
Hadada Ibis
Grey Heron
Reed Cormorant
Great Cormorant
Black Kite
Black Crake
Dusky Turtle Dove
Red-eyed Dove
African Green Pigeon
Hartlaub’s Turaco
Red-chested Cuckoo
Speckled Mousebird
Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird
Cardinal Woodpecker
Chin-spot Batis
Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike
Black-backed Puffback
Tropical Boubou
Common Fiscal
Pied Crow
White-bellied Tit
Lesser Striped Swallow
Singing Cisticola
Grey-capped Warbler
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Common Bulbul
Yellow-whiskered Greenbul
Olive Thrush
Ruppell’s Robin Chat
White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher
Bronze Sunbird
Northern Double-collared Sunbird
Variable Sunbird
Kenya Rufous Sparrow
Grosbeak Weaver
Baglafecht Weaver
Spectacled Weaver
Holub’s Golden Weaver
African Pied Wagtail
(42 species)