HOME PADDOCK LANGATA – STIRRED BIRDS 10th April 2016

When we had our eight inches over the three days at the start of
April, it actually had very little influence on the water-associated
birds around or over the paddock, but had brought about a fall of
migrant passerines. On Saturday 9th April around 4.00pm and lasting
for some fifteen minutes only, we had a sudden downpour of an inch and
it was a very different story.

On the morning of 10th, I was up in our paddock at 6.30am and stayed
until 11.00am, and in the afternoon I went up from 5.00pm and stayed
until 6.15pm. Almost on arrival in the morning, 23 Amur Falcons came
gliding in with only a few flaps, they were so low that they must have
roosted very close by, as only the height of our tallest trees. They
all went off in a SSE direction towards the Kitengela, forty minutes
later a flock of 27 came from the same direction but higher, and
headed ESE towards the Park. At 5.45pm, 25 Amurs came from the
direction of the Park and disappeared in the direction the first
flocks arrived from. This suggests that not only did the falcons roost
on Mukoma Estate or very close by, but having stayed the day feeding
out on the plains, they were returning to the same roost for another
night, unless they were different birds.

Also from the start of the day there were Northern Hobbies, in the
morning there were about ten, and apart from one sitting in the tree,
they were all flying fast and not stopping. In the evening there were
also about ten but now they were feeding over the area. The only other
falcon was a single Common Kestrel heading out towards the Rift.

The only other migrant raptors were a Common Buzzard at 7.15am which
is very early for it to be flying, and a dark Booted Eagle at 9.25am
going NW and edging towards the Rift.

Remembering that we have no open water here, and the Mbagathi at the
bottom of the valley is only a stream, waterbirds were moving from
place to place. Many Reed Cormorants but never more than a pair at a
time were going in all directions but mainly E-W or W-E following the
valley. Strangely no Cattle Egrets were seen, but there were three
Yellow-billed, two Great Egrets and twos of Black-headed and Grey
Herons. Egyptian Geese were only local birds flying over which was
normal. Four Open-billed Storks soaring low up the valley were our
first birds for the paddock. Sacred Ibis were busier than usual, but
undoubtedly only from the local breeding colonies in Ongata Rongai and
Hyena Dam in NNP. There were a couple of Grey Crowned Cranes, but they
are a fairly regular sight. There were two Wood Sandpipers going W,
and one heading SE a couple of hours later, and the mystery
Black-winged Stilts flew NW at 7.15pm.

Of the other migrants, a Common Cuckoo went SW in the morning and was
evidently feeding locally having stopped in the tree first. For much
of the morning there were about 500 birds that I believe were Pallid
Swifts, flying around and skimming the trees at the bottom of the
garden. Sadly my camera will not handle swifts any more, although I
tried. This has happened several times in the past at this time of
year, the birds spend long periods of time feeding along the Kisembe
Ridge. Some time ago when this happened Itai Shanni was here to
witness it, when he paid a visit. There were a few Common Swifts, but
only five House Martins. Sadly and worryingly no Eurasian Bee-eaters
were recorded all day. Four Eurasian Golden Orioles spent time in the
tree, two of them arrived already carrying fruit. Barn Swallows were
milling around in large numbers and feeding around the area.
Surprisingly it was the bush migrants that failed to make any
impression, the only warblers were eight Willow, and the only other
passerine palearctics were four Tree Pipits.

During the two periods in the paddock I recorded 91 species, the next
day I was in the paddock (12th) we crashed and burned with just 51
species and the only migrants were one Hobby and four Golden Orioles!


NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 11th April 2016

Karen Plumbe kindly picked up Heather Elkins, Mike Davidson and then
myself and we met up with Jennifer Oduore at Langata Gate but drove
around to Main Gate of Nairobi National Park as cards had to be
charged. There had been no traffic on either Magadi or Langata Roads,
and no one entering the Park whilst we were there and so we were in
the gate at 7.00pm.

The lack of passerine migrants I had experienced on 10th was echoed
here, in dramatic contrast to what we had experienced the previous
Monday.

On the way to Ivory Burning Site we had our only Eurasian Bee-eaters
(4) and Tree Pipit (1) for the whole day. At Ivory Burning Site apart
from a few Barn Swallows there were no Palearctics to be seen or
heard. There was a Shelley’s Francolin calling, which I cannot
remember hearing from there before.

Nagalomon Dam apart from the activity of the breeding Sacred Ibis was
quite quiet. The African Spoonbills appear to be incubating, but it
would difficult to prove breeding yet. The bird crouched on the nest
platform had another standing guard over it. There are two apparent
pairs at present with another two birds hanging around the colony.
There were plenty of Black-crowned Night-Herons scattered about, and
two adult Purple Herons. There was only one Darter but three in the
afternoon when we passed by again. The Fish Eagle had flown off whilst
we were at Ivory Burning Site, but is still in the area. There were no
migrant waders anywhere to be seen.