On 16 December 2015 George Muigai, Dominic Kimani, Samuel Bakari and I 
birded the western shore of Lake Ol' Bolossat. We accessed the lake 
shore 7km down a track from Kasuku off the Nyahururu-Gilgil road (C77). 
It had been raining heavily for days and our 4WD vehicle got stuck in 
the mud around 1km from the lake (it took 10 men nearly an hour to dig 
it out), so be warned! During a 2-hour visit, when it had stopped 
raining, we saw good numbers of Northern Pintail and Northern Shoveler 
as well as a few Garganey, Eurasian Wigeon and Eurasian Teal among many 
Red-knobbed Coot and various Afrotropical ducks and geese. Other 
Palaearctic birds we encountered were Western Marsh Harrier, 
Black-tailed Godwit, Marsh, Wood and Common Sandpipers, Ruff, Isabelline 
Shrike, Whinchat, Western Yellow Wagtail and Red-throated Pipit.

The previous day (15 December) Peter Karani, Dominic, Bakari and I went 
birding in South Marmanet Forest. We drove to the forest station in 
Nyahururu, just above Thomson's Falls, from where we walked for 3 hours 
in the forest accompanied by 2 armed KFS rangers (in case we came upon 
any elephants - we didn't but a few are still there at times). The only 
Palaearctic birds we saw were Willow Warbler, Eurasian Blackcap and Tree 
Pipit. Not much of the forest interior was undisturbed, so we did not 
see many forest specialists. But these included Mountain Buzzard, 
Hartlaub's Turaco, Fine-banded Woodpecker, Red-fronted Parrot, Grey 
Cuckooshrike, Grey Apalis and Thick-billed Seedeater. Forest generalists 
that we heard or saw included African Emerald Cuckoo, Narina Trogon, 
Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Black-throated 
Wattle-eye, Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, Brown Woodland Warbler, Cinnamon 
Bracken Warbler, Chestnut-throated Apalis, Kikuyu White-eye, Abyssinian 
Thrush, African Dusky Flycatcher, White-starred Robin, Collared Sunbird 
and Eastern Double-collared Sunbird. As a non-resident I paid an 
entrance fee of Ksh 600, and Dominic and Bakari (who are both Kenyan 
citizens) were charged Ksh 200 each. I also paid the rangers Ksh 500 each.

Dominic, Bakari and I were staying at Subukia Bandas (Muringa Farm) off 
the Nakuru-Nyahururu road (B5) - www.wild-routes-of-kenya.com - in the 
grounds of which we saw quite a number of interesting birds including 
Grey Crowned Crane (displaying), Tambourine Dove, African Pygmy 
Kingfisher, Common Scimitarbill, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, 
Black-throated Wattle-eye (feeding young), Grey-capped Warbler, 
Violet-backed Starling, Silverbird, Green-headed Sunbird, Golden-backed 
Weaver (nest-building) and Cape Wagtail (associating with Western Yellow 
and African Pied Wagtails). During a short visit to the Nyahururu hippo 
pools on 14 December, our tally included Gabar Goshawk, African Snipe, 
Lesser Swamp Warbler, Levaillant's Cisticola, Northern Wheatear, 
Malachite Sunbird, Red-headed Weaver, Long-tailed Widowbird, Cape 
Wagtail and Yellow-throated Longclaw.


Best,

David Fox