Greetings birders

Nature Kenya's Wednesday Morning Birdwalk had winners at the Racecourse
today.

As soon as we arrived, there was an eye-level view of a Red-chested Cuckoo
and a pair of Black Cuckooshrikes. Birds continued to fill the Trema, Ficus
and Senna trees in front of us, adding up to 44 species in the first hour
and 50 metres, and 67 for the morning (two and a half hours and a bit of a
walk). The big winners, however, were:

1. Golden-tailed Woodpecker, only the fourth sighting for Nairobi. Brian
Finch notes about their distribution "Closest east is Kibwezi and closest
west is Mara". But there it was in a forest tree, possibly a Diospyros, a
female with dark forehead and red nape, twice as big as the nearby
Brown-backed Woodpecker, with long streaks on the breast, a greenish back
and a golden tail. We heard its raptor-like call several times. Our last
sighting of this enigmatic bird was at the same place one and a half years
ago.

2. Bronze-naped Pigeons, altitudinal migrants from the highland forests
visiting Nairobi during the cold season. There were at least two females and
one male, and all participants got at least one good view.

3. Yellow White-eye? The Trema tree hosted a pair of Montane White-eyes and
several other white-eyes, yellow all over, but with a medium-sized eye-ring
clearly cut by a dark line. It seems to fit Brian Finch's recent discovery
of Yellow White-eyes in southwestern Nairobi, together with Montane and
Abyssinian White-eyes.

Wishing you good birding, Fleur