NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 4th April 2016

Dear All,
Mike Davidson returning for a visit, Simon Ball, Fleur Ng’Weno,
Jennifer Oduore and myself met up at 6.45am at Main Gate to Nairobi
National Park. There had been a little rain overnight, but nothing
like the three previous nights, however the amount of cloud suggested
we can expect more. With the very heavy rain we were wondering how the
Park will have fared and where we could access the birding sites and
the state of the roads.

As it happened we spent the whole time in what is colloquially known
as “Finch Pentad,” and it was so rich even if we could get elsewhere
in the Park we might not have left the northern area. We managed an
extremely impressive 159 species in this small section. It seemed that
there was a very large number of common birds we were not recording,
and we never looked at the forest or anywhere around Langata Gate. We
found immediately that the back road to Hyena Dam has been severely
damaged by the rains, the Hyena Dam run-off was awash, more
surprisingly there were no roads open out from Kingfisher Picnic Site
and to continue along the south road was impossible. Undoubtedly
access to Eland Hollow and Athi Dam would have been treacherous as
well. With a few sunny and drier days they will all be available again
soon I am sure.

In the car park there were a few Willow Warblers, some fifteen
Violet-backed Starlings flew over and an Eastern Honeybird fed low in
the trees. Our first port of call was Ivory Burning Site and
immediately stumbling onto the migrants. There were the first of eight
Tree Pipits on the grass, and two Nairobi Pipits and a female
flava-type Yellow Wagtail (the only one today) accompanying them. In
the scrub the first of over 25 Spotted Flycatchers, the first of over
100 Willow Warblers, one each of Garden and Barred Warblers, a
Nightingale species called from the scrub, but gave no clue as to its
specific identity, there were four stunning Eurasian Golden Orioles, a
Jacobin Cuckoo, and the first of eight Common Cuckoos, ten Eurasian
Bee-eaters were like the Orioles the only individuals recorded today.
There was a noisy Crested Francolin calling, the only francolin of the
day.

The drift on the way to Nagalomon Dam had had water over it, but was
now reduced to small puddles, and there were no Thick-knees evident,
the adjacent Mokoyeti River was a raging torrent.  It was strange but
in Nagalomon Dam there did not appear to be much more water than
recently, but it was probably topped up with all excess going into the
Mokoyeti River outlet as this is a major water source for the Park.
The Sacred Ibis colony was in full working and noisy mode, two pairs
of African Spoonbills still stand on nest platforms amongst the ibis,
but as yet no sign of proper nesting activity. Only one Darter was
present, but plenty of Black-crowned Night-Herons were scattered
throughout. There were no palearctic waders, but a Thrush Nightingale
sang from the causeway.

Taking the main road to Hyena Dam was so birdy it took longer than
expected to get there. Highlight was the season’s only record of a
Red-throated Pipit, which is very discouraging for a species that used
to winter around Athi Dam in numbers as high as thirty. Still we were
happy to see this individual, there was a “getting late” female
Northern Wheatear. We had the first of fifteen Lesser Grey Shrikes
which all appeared confined to the Hyena Dam area, and the first five
of over fifty Red-backed Shrikes with the others concentrated further
west towards Kingfisher, strange how they have divided themselves like
this. There was one male Turkestan Shrike, and a hybrid
Red-backed/Red-tailed Shrike. Before we arrived at Hyena Dam we looked
out at the flooded vlei of the run-off. There were many Marabous and
Sacred Ibis feeding out in the wet grasslands with other species
threaded amongst them. A Saddle-billed Stork posed on top of its large
acacia that it had nested on before in previous years, so that looked
promising. Five Open-billed Storks flew over the area but were not
seen to stop, there were single Great and Yellow-billed Egrets, a
female-type Western Marsh Harrier, scattered Wood Sandpipers and over
fifteen Ruffs, although we could hear some birds from Hyena Dam before
arriving there, we settled down to our breakfast already having
recorded 105 species. There was a great amount of activity at the dam
and we additionally saw White-faced Whistling Duck, three Glossy Ibis,
two Squacco Herons, two more Great Egrets, the pair of Fish Eagles
still holding on to their acacia, a beautiful pale Booted Eagle (this
and the harrier were the only palearctic raptors seen), a
hyper-extravert African Water Rail, pairs of Crowned Cranes with young
on three different sides of the dam, a Black-winged Stilt, six
Long-toed and an increase to five Spur-winged Plovers, two adult
African Jacanas, a Common Sandpiper (no Greens seen today), five
incredibly obliging Sedge Warblers and a couple of Rosy-breasted
Longclaws. We retraced back towards Nagalomon Dam finding the seasons,
and days only Great Reed Warbler, and on the cairn at Nagalomon was
the first of only three Whinchats for the day.

The grasslands held all three  (Red-collared, Jackson’s and
White-winged) Widowbirds in breeding plumage but fairly small numbers
at present, in the scrub as we headed towards Kingfisher at the base
of the Kisembe Ridge were the first of five Common Whitethroats, and
near Kingfisher was a second Barred Warbler which was eventually
co-operative. There was much activity at the picnic site with the
commoner migrants present, as well as acacia specialists like
Red-throated Tit, Brown Parisoma and Buff-bellied Warblers. A nice
Bateleur passed by and both Superb and Hildebrandt’s Starling
scrounged for food.

Attempts to get further towards Maasai Gate failed and we were forced
to turn back. As we passed Nagalomon Dam for the third time, there was
now a pair of adult Open-billed Storks amongst the Ibis.

Barn Swallows were in surprisingly small numbers, and apart from a
pair of Black-backed Jackals at Ivory Burning Site, the usual Bohor
Reedbucks at Hyena Dam we did not encounter anything much on the way
of less common mammals on our small circuit.

We were through the gate shortly before 2.00pm, having had an
incredible morning with the migrants, although the weather had greatly
reduced the area searched, and undoubtedly there would have been a
good variety along the Mbagathi River and the dry mellifera scrub
towards Cheetah Gate.

Best to all
Brian

As a footnote our garden and paddock this morning (5th) has not had a
single Willow Warbler this is almost the first day since mid-September
and yet I now they will still be going through into May…so where are
the thousands that should have been all through the area yesterday? We
did have three Garden Warblers, otherwise no Tree Pipits, a Eurasian
Golden Oriole flew north, a Common Cuckoo was feeding locally, there
has not been the twitter of a Barn Swallow all morning but the
Nightingale is still here. I will never understand birds!