NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK 19th March 2017

Dear All,
Nigel Hunter picked me up at my house at 6.10am and we drove around to
Main Gate, here we met with Washington Wachira for a full days serious
atlassing in the Park. In spite of queuing up to pay by Visa Card (the
payment area has sensibly been transferred back to the old card
loading station) we were still through the gate at 6.40am.

We started off at Ivory Burning Site, but there was little calling and
the sun was still low. As it grew lighter but still overcast, birds
became more active. Crested Francolins were calling to each other,
Zanzibar Sombre Greenbuls came into view and started giving their
cheerful refrain, a couple of unseen Nightingales were pinking and
giving bursts of song, a Pied Wheatear flew by and disappeared, there
were three Willow Warblers, a Common Whitethroat and an Acrocephalus
also flashed by and vanished in the dense Rus. The first of fifteen
Isabelline Wheatears was on the Ivory Burning Arena, the first of
three Isabelline Shrikes fed around the picnic tables where there was
also the first of five Spotted Flycatchers see today.