Dear James,
Thanks so much for sending in your migrants. I have updated the list
as at this morning, and included your Red-necked Phalarope at Nakuru
as well.

I took an image of a bird I thought was Isabelline Wheatear early in
October, but thought there was too much black on the wing. Your bird
looks very similar and I believe they are both first year Northern. In
Northern buffy edges to the coverts are narrow and so the feathering
looks extensively blackish and contrasts with the back colour. In
Isabelline the coverts are broadly buffy edged and the predominate
colour is paler not contrasting with the back colour. Northern has
whitish supercilium behind the eye, but in front of the eye it is
buff, whilst Isabelline  has a white supercilium with the whitest in
front of the eye. It’s so easy to think these young birds as
Isabelline, but note that neither in your or my images are the birds
upright nor is the bill any longer than typical Northern. Just taking
on this additional piece of ID information has been a learning curve
for me this year!

The White-winged Black Tern at Magadi is a moulting adult, there are
still a couple of black summer feathers on the breast  and bird has
very worn plumage. The problem with adults is that we do not know if
they ever left Kenya (or Africa), and so cannot be sure of the
returning date. If you look at the image I have attached from NNP, you
will see that this is this years bird. The wing feathers are all
fresh, and the saddle is uniform very dark brown contrasting with the
pale wings. This individual was definitely a new arrival in Kenya.

Still a lot of migrants to come yet!

Very best
Brian