Dear All,

LAKE NAIVASHA BIRDS, PLANTS AND CURIOUS ABOUT BOUBOUS!

On 20th (Tue) October, Nigel Hunter and I planned on a visit to
Naivasha. Just before leaving my house I saw a dark form in the large
Acacia xanthophloea, and was pleased to see it was the female Bat Hawk
(image attached). The first time I have seen it actually perched in
the garden since late August, although regularly heard calling from
IUCN where I hope they are breeding.

Our first stop was Manguo Ponds which is in superb condition, and
water is extensive. In spite of this and quite a large number of birds
present, we failed to note a singular interesting species in the pond.
No sign of the Maccoas seen last Sunday, and really strangely not one
White-backed Duck has returned. Migrant waders were limited to a
sprinkling of Wood, one Marsh and twenty Ruff. There were about three
Yellow Wagtails around but only seen in flight and no identified to
race. The most interesting bird was an Eastern Honeybird perched
within six inches of the ground, and clearly a young bird with
prominent gape flange, and giving a high weepy call that I have never
heard from this species before. There was no sign of any foster
parents.

Hippo Camp on Lake Naivasha was still rather high, maybe the water
drops off steeply from the edge of the causeway. There was a good
variety but no foreshore it all being water hyacinth. There were
single Goliath and Black Herons, very few waders being Wood and Common
Sandpipers, a Greenshank and a two Ruff. Eleven Northern Shoveler were
along the shore. The only tern was a Gull-billed, although a flock of
small terns, probably White-winged Blacks could be seen on the other
side of the lake, and just one Grey-headed Gull. Whilst inside the
ticket office, Nigel called me outside for a raptor, and there was a
superb Eurasian Honey Buzzard passing overhead quite low, and thinking
this was a good sign for raptor migration just shows how wrong you can
be, and the only other migrant raptors in several hours were a couple
of Common Buzzards. The place seemed to be thronging with Fish-Eagles,
mainly adults.
There were four Yellow Wagtails present, a male beema, two female
flava type and one female lutea and thousands of Barn Swallows and
Sand Martins. In the woodland, a Pearl-spotted Owlet imitation brought
in 15 Willow Warblers, a Spotted Flycatcher, seven Black
Cuckoo-shrikes and a Brown Parisoma. There was a Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl
calling in the distance.

As often happens, when the birding gets a little dull attention
wanders to the smaller members of the animal kingdom and the plants.
Today we found a very pretty flower which was quite common and is also
attached, it is Pycnostachys coerulea. On consulting Upland Kenya
Wildflowers, where I managed to track it down, it states very rare,
but common at Naivasha!!!