Dear All,
Following the accidental discovery a few weeks ago, of strange-looking
Common Waxbills with blackish not red supercilia, present in a video I
took near Molo (at Maji Punda on Google Earth) some five years ago, it
was decided that a revisit was necessary.
Nigel Hunter and myself made arrangements to stay with friends at
Deloraine at Rongai from where it is only a relatively short distance.
We left on 14th December, and on stopping off for a morning coffee at
Sunbird Lodge at Elementeita, there were many birds around the lake
shores, and a Black-headed Gull was below the cliffs.  We arrived for
lunch at Deloraine and in the afternoon had a walk around the garden,
but more on the birds of the estate later. On the return on 16th we
looked at Manguo Ponds for a short while. It looks in good condition,
we found a drake Maccoa and three White-backed Duck, strangely no
palearctic ducks, and two Western Marsh Harriers.

The next morning we set off armed with a superb breakfast, with our
host Tristan Voorspuy and a friend of his from South Africa for an
early look at Maji Punda. Unfortunately we could not find the big dam
which is very interesting, but quite obvious on Google Earth and we
were only a couple of kilometres from it. (Next time).
This area is moorland grassland with swampy depressions, but like this
habitat everywhere it is ideal for potatoes and peas. Five years ago
when we were last there, IDP’s had been given a place there, and we
feared the worst, but the IDP’s have been relocated although the
habitat has been greatly reduced. The saving grace is that whilst
wanting to grow vegetables, the local people still have need for
grassy areas for their livestock. Checking the little ponds we found
that Aberdare Cisticolas had lost much habitat, but have conveniently
moved into the sedge beds with the Levaillant’s Cisticolas which was a
surprise adaptation. Wing-snapping Cisticolas were very busy on the
grassland with much displaying, and the fourth member of the highland
members of the genus, Hunter’s were widespread. We located one pair of
Sharpe’s Longclaws, but there could have been more. Back at the dam
there were two African Water Rails that were very obliging, and having
said that the vegetation on this pond was identical to the roadside
pond near the turn to Mutubio Gate on the Njabini side, where Lesser
Jacanas breed, Tristan was the first to find an adult with the Wood
Sandpipers, the irony being he had never seen one before! Apart from
Wood there was one Green Sandpiper, two Ruff, three Little Stint and a
single Common Snipe. Amongst the Yellow Wagtails (all lutea), were six
Red-throated Pipits. Two Montagu’s Harriers were present for a short
while, and there was a Yellow-billed Egret.
In the weedy growth the Malachite Sunbirds were very busy displaying
and singing, and a few Golden-winged also present. Other birds on the
grassland were a few Red-capped Larks and Grassland Pipits, and
Quailfinch in the tussocks, but the seeding annuals were attracting
many seedeating species, the most numerous being out-of-plumage
Jackson’s Widowbirds, and in plumage Red-billed Queleas. With these
were Streaky Seedeaters, Yellow-crowned Canaries and African Citrils,
but we were after Waxbills.
Walking along the herbage between the potatoes and the tussock
grassland we searched for the waxbills scanning through the large
flocks but not finding any. Suddenly I heard a Common Waxbill-like
call and alerted the others and five waxbills flew past us and dropped
into the herbage over 500m away. So we set off for them. The view was
brief to say the least, but what I can say is that they were very
grey, and the contrast between the grey underparts and the black lower
belly to vent was very noticeable. But nothing was seen of the head
but a blur. We arrived where the birds had landed, and scanned through
the flocks present….. no sign.
Patrolling this line of vegetation single waxbills flew rapidly past
us twice (it is quite amazing how fast a waxbill can fly), but
continued on. So we never saw the birds on the ground, and the result
of this search is that all we can say is that a Common Waxbill-type
still exists in this area, but the only answer to the solution is to
return. Which is no great hardship!

BIRDS OF DELORAINE
The entire birding on the estate was limited to the area within less
than a kilometre of the south of the house. We did scan the vegetation
along the drive near the highway when we arrived, and on departure. We
had just over an hours walk in the afternoon of the same day, and
drove down to the little pond after 4.30pm the day we got back from
Maji Punda. The next morning on the day of our return to Nairobi we
had an hour-and-a half in the morning before breakfast, and stopped at
the pond mid-morning when we left.
In this time, and in the limited habitat variation we recorded 144
species. To put this into perspective when looking at the list of
species recorded, Deloraine is only 15km from Nakuru. Away from the
house it is mainly open fields, with ribbons of acacias along the
roads, there are some stands of scrubby woodland, and fruiting figs
along the creek bed that was dry at the time. Small blocks of
eucalypts were also along the roads, whilst around the house the
vegetation was rich although largely exotic however the birds loved
it. We did not visit it on this occasion, but at the back of the house
on the hillside is a fairly extensive stand of upland forest, so all
of our birding was in the more open area.

Deloraine Bird List
Approx 2000 m. asl
14th-16th December 2016
Little Grebe
Cattle Egret
Grey Heron
Black-headed Heron,
Hamerkop
Hadada Ibis
Egyptian Goose
Yellow-billed Duck
Pallid Harrier
Gabar Goshawk
Great Sparrowhawk
Steppe Buzzard
Augur Buzzard
Lesser Spotted Eagle
Lanner Falcon
Lesser Kestrel
Coqui Francolin
Crested Francolin
Helmeted Guineafowl
Black Crake
Common Moorhen
Grey Crowned Crane
Tambourine Dove
Blue-spotted Wood-Dove
Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove,
Red-eyed Dove
Ring-necked Dove
Laughing Dove
African Green Pigeon
Brown Parrot
Ross’s Turaco
Diederic Cuckoo
Barn Owl
Montane Nightjar
Freckled Nightjar
Dusky Nightjar
Eurasian Swift
Little Swift
Speckled Mousebird
Blue-naped Mousebird
White-fronted Bee-eater
Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater
Common Scimitarbill
White-headed Wood-Hoopoe
Green Wood-Hoopoe
Crowned Hornbill
Black and White Casqued  Hornbill
Spot-flanked Barbet
Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird
Red-fronted Tinkerbird
Scaly-throated Honeyguide
Greater Honeyguide
Lesser Honeyguide
Nubian Woodpecker
Cardinal Woodpecker
Bearded Woodpecker
Sand Martin
Wire-tailed Swallow
Barn Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
House Martin
Black Saw-wing
Pied Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail
Grassland Pipit
Tree Pipit
Cabanis's Greenbul
Common Bulbul
Rufous Chatterer
Cape Robin-Chat
African Thrush
Southern Black Flycatcher
White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher
Pale Flycatcher
Willow Warbler
Dark-capped Yellow Warbler
Stout Cisticola
Rattling Cisticola,
Tawny-flanked Prinia
Grey-backed Camaroptera
Yellow-breasted Apalis
Grey-capped Warbler
Red-faced Crombec,
Buff-bellied Warbler
Brown Parisoma
Yellow White-eye
White-bellied Tit
African Blue Flycatcher
Common Paradise-Flycatcher
Chin-spot Batis
Black-throated Wattle-eye
Grey-backed Fiscal
Common Fiscal
Brown-crowned Tchagra
Tropical Boubou
Slate-coloured Boubou
Sulphur-breasted Bush-Shrike
Northern Puffback
Black Cuckoo-shrike
Common Drongo
Black-headed Oriole
Red-winged Starling
Greater Blue-eared Starling
Ruppell's Long-tailed Starling
Superb Starling
Violet-backed Starling
Wattled Starling
Collared Sunbird
Marico Sunbird
Green-headed Sunbird
Variable Sunbird
Amethyst Sunbird
Scarlet-chested Sunbird
Northern Double-collared Sunbird
Bronze Sunbird
Rufous Sparrow
White-browed Sparrow-Weaver
Baglafecht Weaver
Spectacled Weaver
Vitelline Masked Weaver
Lesser Masked Weaver
Village Weaver
Chestnut Weaver
Red-headed Weaver
Red-billed Quelea
Yellow Bishop
White-winged Widowbird
Grey-headed Negrofinch
Red-billed Firefinch
African Firefinch
Crimson-rumped Waxbill
Common Waxbill
Red-cheeked Cordon-Bleu
Quail Finch
Bronze Mannikin
Village Indigobird
African Citril
Brimstone Canary
Reichenow's Seedeater
Cinnamon-breasted Rock Bunting
Golden-breasted Bunting


SOME COMMENTS ON THE LIST

Gabar Goshawk
A pale bird came into an acacia, sat for while then spotted a cowering
Speckled Mousebird which it snatched very easily.
Then a smaller black male came in and landed right on top of her and
tried to mate, she totally ignored this and carried on
feeding, but although the male sat alongside there was no aggression
and finally he left.

Ross’s Turaco
One pair commonly seen, extending into the acacia scrub as well as the
figs, possibly more than one pair involved.

Barn Owl
A pair was nesting above my bedroom in the roof. They hissed at times
all through the night but were not obtrusive.

Freckled Nightjar
In all this seemingly unsuitable habitat for the species, a pair have
found a home (for a long time) on the shingles of
the roof of the house, and call on and off all night. Coming back from
the pond in the evening there was a very plain nightjar
in the headlights of the car. It was in the acacia scrub with fields
on either side, and I thought it was a Plain Nightjar until it
started to call!

White-headed Wood-Hoopoe
Whilst birds feed in the exotics around the house, they also come
right down into the acacias along the road, where they
co-exist with both Green Wood-Hoopoe and African Scimitarbill. However
there appears to be no mixing, nor interspecific
aggression.

Black-and-White Casqued Hornbill
A few like the fruiting figs near the house.

Double-toothed Barbet
Although we did not encounter them a pair live around the house.

Rufous Chatterer
There was a family of five living in scrub near the pond, it seemed an
unusual place. There appears to be no other babblers
present.

African Thrush
Several living around the garden. Unusual for the species, and
obviously related to season, they are completely silent.

Southern Black Flycatcher
There are a couple of pairs along the road near the horse paddock.
Whilst on the west wall of the Rift, and might be thought
to have been Northern, the birds were very glossy. I have seen the
species on the lower slopes of the hill from Marigat below
Kabarnet in the past. However the distribution given in Britton and
Lewis does not include this area. Britton states that the
Northern Black Flycatcher occurs at Nakuru, but lists the Southern at
Rumuruti! Something is amiss with the Black Flycatcher
distributions. Lewis flags that there may be problems of confused
identifications, but does show Southern on the west wall of
the Rift. Zimmermann & Turner keep the populations discrete but list
Northern for Kericho and Southern for Nakuru.

African Blue Flycatcher
A pair seems to be resident in dense scrub and gulley around the pond.
This is a long way east. In Britton it gives the eastern
limits as the Mau Forest, but nowhere specific. Lewis shows two
records extending to 35oN. Zimmermann & Turner list the
eastern limit as Kericho Forest and so this would appear to be an
extension of range eastwards.

Grey-backed Fiscal
Whilst there is an undocumented small resident population just N of
Rumuruti on the Maralal Road, the nominate race is found
from Baringo to Naivasha, but exclusively on the Rift Valley Floor. A
single bird was on cables near the Main Gate. This is a
westward extension and climbing the Rift Wall. In the west away from
the other races in the Lake Victoria Basin and Mara,
there is only an unsupported record from 3000m at Mau Narok.

Tropical Boubou
Fairly common and unsurprisingly identical to birds (major) from
Nakuru and Naivasha with the long white band along the
edges of the secondaries, dramatic ringing calls, and larger than the
form ambiguus from Nairobi.

Fork-tailed Drongo
I am not sure what is the situation with regards to the Drongos on the
property. Some are glossy black with long deeply forked
tails, whilst others appear compact conspicuously black masked and
matt bluish above with short shallow-forked tails and
totally lacking the wing flash caused by the greyish edges to the
flight feathers sometimes showing as a panel on the closed
wing. (See image).

KEY TO MONTAGE

TOP LEFT AND MIDDLE
MIDDLE FAR LEFT

Malachite Sunbirds full of the joys of Spring.

BOTTOM LEFT
A variation in Common Reed Frog Hyperolius from the viridiflavis group.

TOP RIGHT
This short tailed shrike on the wires looks very like a Lesser Grey
Shrike that was a lost
migrant having come too far to the east, for its southern migration.

MIDDLE FAR RIGHT
Then it decided to turn round, and showed itself to be a Grey-backed
Fiscal. It just goes to show
how careful you have to be when judging the shapes of birds from
images when there is
foreshortening that cannot be appreciated.

BOTTOM SECOND FROM LEFT
The rather different looking Deloraine Drongo.

BOTTOM SECOND FROM RIGHT
The adult Lesser Jacana at Maji Punda.

BOTTOM RIGHT
Wing-snapping Cisticola in breeding plumage, showing extensive orange
wash on flanks
extending on to breast, orangish rump and coarsely streaked upperparts.

MIDDLE
This is an interesting image, it’s a male Black-throated Wattle-eye. I
am not sure that with the bird facing
like this and hiding whether it has white on the wings or not, and not
being able to hear it of course, it would actually
be identifiable with certainty from this photo